Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel
by SuperGreG
Summary: 4E49-Fifty years after the Oblivion Crisis and around seven years since the events of the Infernal City, the story continues. Forces gather at Chorrol's Fighters Guild ahead of a long overdue task. The Great Forest of Cyrodiil sometimes holds unexpected secrets and threats. As do the skies above. Oblivion, Infernal City & Skyrim.
1. Chapter 1

Foreword:

Fifty years after the Oblivion Crisis and around seven years since the events of the Infernal City, the story continues. Forces gather at Chorrol's Fighters Guild ahead of a long overdue task. The Great Forest of Cyrodiil sometimes holds unexpected secrets and threats. As do the skies above.

Authors note: With some artistic license, all reasonable effort made to maintain _general_ parity with _existing_ canon established in Oblivion, The Infernal City/Lord of Souls, and Skyrim.

Rated M for mild adult content.

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><p>Although it should go without needing to be stated, let it be said: Bethesda owns The Elder Scrolls and all related materials. I am merely contributing my own interpretations in a public forum and no profit is derived or intended from my work.<p>

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Additional note: This story follows on from "The Sons of Baroth: An Elder Scrolls Novel". Some effort has been made to allow this story to function as stand-alone. However, I still recommend reading the previous story for a more complete perspective. Of course, 'to get the heart of the story, you oughta go back to the beginning'. ;-)

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><p>Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel<p>

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 1

Sundas the 26th of Hearthfire 4E49

It wasn't yet all that late in the evening. It would have passed the hour of eight not so long before. The muffled noises from the main tavern level of the Oak and Crosier Inn drifted down from above. The heavy timber that separated the main level from the basement level rooms below was substantial, but not so much that it blocked all the sound coming from above.

Alexander Pinewatch heard the door to the room open and close behind him. The lightly framed Nord didn't turn away from what he was doing. He knew exactly who it was. He could tell from the familiar sound of her footfalls and the particular way that she jiggled the lock. Added to that, he'd been expecting her back from the basement level bathroom at any moment.

"What are you doing?" Monika Northwind asked the question in casual tone.

Alex responded just as casually. "Oh, just washing those pears." He continued with the task, washing the bulb-shaped fruit in a basin on the long side-cupboard and then carefully placing each one into another large bowl.

She made a slight tutting noise as she hung the towelling to dry. "No, why are you doing it?"

"They need to be washed." His tone leaned more toward the matter-of-fact, than any sort of provocation. He turned only briefly to glance in her direction.

Monika had her back to him. She was still busy with adjusting the towelling and clothing hanging on the rack in the corner. He noted that she was wearing nothing but a light cotton shirt that only barely reached her upper thighs. He took that as a fair indication that they wouldn't be going back upstairs. He kept to the task at hand.

Still running a comb through her damp hair, Monika sidled up behind him, peering down over his shoulder. She stood just slightly taller than Alex. "They won't be ripe yet."

Alex nodded silently with a mild smile. He continued with washing the fruit.

Monika reached past him to check one of the cleaned pears in the second bowl. She wrinkled her nose as she sniffed. "Gonna need at least a couple of days." She checked another one. "Yeah, probably two or three days."

Alex didn't say anything. In passing, he noticed how her fair hair looked almost as dark as his own when it was wet like that. He silently admired the shape of her ears, the way that they came to a slight point at the top. Aside from her subtle bronze colouring, her ears seemed the only obvious indication of her mixed parentage.

Stepping back, Monika spoke again. "That's a lot of pears. I do like pears, but we'll never get through all that before they spoil." She returned to combing her hair.

Alex remained silent, only nodding slightly. Over the past year or so, he'd grown accustomed to the slightly unusual sound of her voice. Despite passing more than a decade living in the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil, Monika's mixed accent still carried the cadence of her formative years in High Rock, along with her earlier time in northern Skyrim as a young girl.

Alex removed the last couple of pears from the sackcloth bag and slipped them into the basin of water. He shook his head as he dropped the bag at his feet. "It was kind of that farmer to give these to us, but this old sack really is filthy."

A prolonged pause passed as Monika continued combing her hair. Alex's own accent was hardly typical of the Chorrol locals. It wasn't even typical for someone who'd lived most of his days in Falkreath, but that had more to do with his Imperial grandmother. It had been her matriarchal influence that resulted in the Pinewatch family name. That sort of thing wasn't so common among most Nords of Skyrim.

Monika finally responded. "Well, we did get rid of those ogres." She took the old sack from the floor and hurled it over near the door. "That can get tossed out tomorrow morning."

"Henrik and Crito did just as much to help as we did." Alex's comment referred to the other two Guild Fighters leaving empty handed. Alex had actually shared some fruit with Crito Catius, but Henrik didn't want any of the pears, grumbling that red apples would have been far more worthwhile.

Her amber coloured eyes rolled slightly. "Yeah well, he wasn't real happy with those other two. They did get two of his sheep killed."

Alex glanced back to Monika. "That was an accident."

She raised her eyebrows. "Don't expect the farmer saw it that way. He did lose another two sheep."

Alex decided to let it go, looking down and away with his darker eyes. The way he saw it, if they hadn't been sent there to deal with that pair of ogres, that farmer up near the Battlehorn Castle estate would have ended up losing far more sheep than that.

Monika sidled up to Alex again. She ran her hand across his right cheek, noticing that he'd shaved when he'd gone to the bathroom. Her hand shifted upward to tussle at his mess of dark brown hair. "Did you wash your hair?"

"Yes, of course." His tone bordered on mild indignation.

"With warm water?" She didn't seem convinced.

"Yes, of course."

Monika harrumphed, expressing her mild scepticism as she took her comb to his slightly messy brown mane.

Alex would have rather cut his hair much shorter, especially at the back, but Monika preferred it longer like that. Since she was the one cutting it, he just went along. Except during the peak of summer, he'd mostly grown used to it. In any event, it wasn't worth any sort of argument.

Monika tutted behind him as she worked the tangles from his moderately lengthy locks. "I reckon I should get a potion for your hair. Something that helps with tangles."

Alex shifted the subject away from himself. "I wonder why pears do not float."

Monika leaned around to return a perplexed expression. "What?"

"Pears. They sink in water. Instead of floating, like apples."

Monika looked down at the last green pear sitting on the bottom of the basin and shrugged. "Maybe there's just more juice in pears, or something like that."

Alex wasn't convinced. His expression said as much.

Monika shrugged again, with a frown and a crooked grin. "Maybe it's just that apples and pears are different." Finished with the task of combing his hair, she stepped away.

Alex still wasn't convinced of that logic, but he didn't have any better explanation to offer. He finished washing the last piece of fruit, placing it in the bowl with the others. "I cannot say that we really saw pears back in Falkreath."

"No?" Monika indicated she was listening; though she was busying herself with hanging out their leather armour and boots to air near the small fireplace.

Alex continued, slipping back into his old farming persona. "No. A few different varieties of apples, but no pears. Grandfather Erik once told me that he did try to grow some pear trees, after hearing that some farmers near Riften were doing it." He shook his head. "They did not do very well. Falkreath was probably too cool and wet for pear trees."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that." Monika's tone sounded more like she was just being agreeable, rather holding any opinion. She'd most likely never given it any thought.

Alex took the wash basin and emptied the content down the small drain in the corner nearest to the fireplace. It briefly reminded him of the cramped sewer system below Chorrol.

They'd needed to go down into those sewers just a couple of months before. Of course, it was a Fighters Guild contract that took them down there.

It was all about rats. It was fair to assume that the sewers beneath the city always had a lot of rats down there. However, once it got to the point that the rodents were busting out through a breach in the West District of the city, something needed to be urgently done about the numbers.

For the most part, the guards of the City Watch could generally be counted upon to kill rats on the street, if they actually came across them. After all, it was their place to protect the local citizens. However, they weren't too keen to head down into the tunnels below.

Still, something had to be done. Accordingly, the local Fighters Guild had been contracted to deal with the problem at the source.

Since a lot of the Guild Fighters were still away at the time, it was just Alex, Monika, Montrose and young Vinus Odiil going down into the sewers. The contracted task seemed simple enough. They needed to kill as many rats as they could over the period of a week and then drag the carcasses back up for burning.

The smaller rats were bad enough. Perhaps worse, since they were harder to hit. The larger ones didn't die so easily, unless a good strike was landed quickly. Those big ones were like the skeevers in the forests around Falkreath. They were easily the size of small dogs.

The work of killing the rats was made more difficult by the stench down there. On top of all that, several visits to the healers at the College of Whispers had been necessary. It wasn't so much about the relatively minor injuries. It was about the diseases they were likely to be infected with from the rats or other mess in the sewers.

Monika interrupted Alex's idle thoughts. "I don't reckon this can be repaired." She was examining Alex's bow again. "I'd say you're gonna need a new one."

"I was thinking the same." He came over to take another look.

Monika wrinkled her nose. "The smith might take it to melt down for the materials, but I'd say it's too far gone to be fixed."

Alex looked at the elven bow with disappointment. The main frame of it was bent to the point that it had cracked in two places. "I had grown used to that one."

Monika looked back, chastising him with a crooked grin. "Maybe next time, you'll follow my lead."

Alex's bow had been damage the previous day as they were dealing with those ogres at that farm near the Battlehorn Castle estate. He'd been too slow to change from bow to sword when that last ogre got in too close. The pale-skinned beast managed to get near enough to swat his bow with its huge fist. The force of the blow ripped it from his grasp and slammed it into the boulders at the edge of the farmland.

It was probably rather fortunate that his bow was the only thing to suffer any serious sort of damage. Aside from Henrik's badly bruised shoulder, none of them actually sustained any notable injuries. Of course, those two ogres hadn't fared so well. Their days of stealing sheep and busting up farms were done for good.

Alex was put in mind of his first encounter with one of those big ogres. That was back before he'd joined the Fighters Guild, just after he'd first met Monika. Of course, back then he didn't have much idea of what he was doing. They'd only survived that encounter through a fortunate combination of circumstance and dumb luck. That unusual variant of an ancient Nordic skill that he'd inherited from his grandfather's bloodline also played some part in it, but that wasn't something he could really rely upon. Nor was it something that he should allow to become broadly known.

"Are you gonna help tidying up?" Monika's tone was one of mock annoyance.

"Uh, yes… sorry." Alex had been just standing there looking at the bow.

He put aside the damaged bow and came over to help with the task. There wasn't really all that much to do. It would take no more than a few moments.

As he stacked the weapons neatly, Alex gave voice to a passing thought. "You had said that Battlehorn Castle had belonged to the Champion of Cyrodiil." He'd seen that stone castle west of Chorrol before, but hadn't actually known of that particular detail until just a couple of days before.

Monika shrugged. "Yeah, used to. That's what they say."

"But that lord does not own…?"

"Nah, I heard it's belonged to County Chorrol ever since the Champion disappeared."

"So, Lord Athos?"

"He's not a proper lord. He's just a castellan… keeper of the castle. He gets to live in the place, maintain it and make whatever he can off the lands, but someone else will take his place when he's gone. Just like he took over from the last one."

"Hmm." Alex murmured. He was thinking of other places that he'd learned had also supposedly belonged to the Champion of Cyrodiil before disappearing decades before. The Arborwatch Tavern in Chorrol was one, back before it was a tavern and inn. There was that mansion on the High Street in Skingrad and he'd also heard of places in other cities of Cyrodiil.

Alex found it hard to believe that any one man could have done half the things that were attributed to the Champion. Closing all those gates to the Oblivion realm of Mehrunes Dagon. Becoming the head of both the Fighters Guild and Mages Guild and all those other things. It seemed to him, like there must have been some measure of exaggeration to the tales.

"Hey." Monika drew his attention. "Make an early night of it?" She'd obviously decided that things were tidy enough.

"Yes, okay." Alex was feeling just a little fatigued, but not really ready to fall asleep.

Monika moved about the room, putting out the candles and lantern. "We should drop in at the blacksmith's store in the morning, before heading up to the Fighters Guild."

"Okay." Alex agreed easily. He knew what she was suggesting.

"If we're lucky, they might even have a bow like the last one you got from there."

"I hope so." Alex glanced upward as he removed his shirt, noting the muffled noise coming from the tavern area above with mild annoyance.

"Yeah well, either way you need a new one before we head off this week." Monika discarded her garment and shuffled into the bed.

Alex did the same, extinguishing the last candle, before settling in next to her. After camping outdoors the previous evening at that farm near the northern end of The Black Road, he thought that the bed in their rented room felt appropriately comfortable.

Alex still wasn't feeling quite sleepy enough. His restless thoughts drifted toward the earlier part of that day. Those four Guild Fighters left that farmland behind fairly early in the morning. Since there was no great hurry, they took their time along the road. They got back to the city just before noon and then headed straight up to the guildhall.

The Guild Master had been far too busy with the visiting Legion commanders to see them. Accordingly, Francois Montrose, the Breton second-in-charge, had handled their reports and paperwork and told them to take the rest the day.

Catius and Henrik remained at the guildhall, since they generally bunked there anyway. Monika and Alex had already decided to head back to the Oak and Crosier.

Before they'd made it out the front door, Henrik and Catius had already resumed that argument they'd been having along the road. They'd been going on about whether stewed pears or apples made the better pies, as well as the benefits of using cinnamon over other spices in that kind of thing.

Alex imagined that either the Guild Porter or Montrose would have put an end to their noisy nonsense soon enough, especially with those visiting Legion commanders upstairs.

After pausing to sample those sweetcakes from the street vendor in the main plaza, Monika and Alex arrived at the Oak and Crosier. Given that the midday rush had already come and gone, it might have been more peaceful there, if not for the arrival of those rowdy Nords from Bruma's guildhall.

Frederick the Loud had arrived in town with three of his comrades. Since they'd turned up early, they weren't motivated to head for the guildhall. Instead, they'd elected to report directly to the most convenient tavern. Unfortunately, it was that place.

After those other activities that kept the Fighters Guild busy over the summer, things had been slowing over the past weeks, but that was all about to change. That task that took them near the Battlehorn Castle estate was slightly unexpected and it was likely to be the last thing before what was planned for the coming weeks.

In a couple of days, things were going to get much busier. There'd be more guild fighters turning up at Chorrol very soon. Once everybody had arrived and everything was organised, the Guild Master would be sending everyone off on task.

"What's up?" Monika whispered with a slight tone of irritation.

Alex had been fidgeting and shifting for the past several moments. "Nothing. Just… just not feeling sleepy."

"No?" She nuzzled up close and nibbled playfully at his ear.

Just then, a loud noise echoed from above. It coincided with a booming shout and was immediately followed by raucous laughter.

After a pause, Alex concluded the obvious. "That must be Frederick."

Monika chuckled mildly. "Forget about Frederick." She shifted position, moving up to nibble at Alex's lower lip.

He responded accordingly. Some length of time passed by before the notion of going to sleep came around again. By then, Alex had no trouble dozing off.

~O~


	2. Chapter 2

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 2

Morndas the 27th of Hearthfire 4E49

More than a couple of hours had passed by since the bells of the Chapel of Stendarr had marked the morning hour of eight. Without shifting from behind his desk, Karl gro-Baroth glanced over toward the open window to his left.

From where he sat, the Great Oak of Chorrol dominated most of his view through that window. The turn of season was evident enough from the way that the sunlight fell upon the leaves of that big tree overlooking the main plaza of Great Oak Place.

Almost four weeks had gone by since the summer had drawn to a close. That periodic rain of just a few weeks back had given way to sustained sunny weather. The days were still fairly warm, but the evenings were already beginning to bring fair warning of the coming winter.

From outside the open windows, the dull murmur of noises coming from below indicated that people were milling about the open stalls that lined the circular plaza. That was fairly normal for that time of morning.

By that time, Karl had already been sitting at his desk for quite a while. That was nothing outside the normal either. As usual, he'd been up with the rising sun and then attending the office since not all that long afterward.

Responding to mild thirst and a dry mouth, Karl reached for his water flask to take a short sip. The big Orc rubbed an irritating itch at the back his bald head and looked across the desk down to the floor below.

The open space of his office was situated on the uppermost level of the Fighters Guild of Chorrol, overlooking one side of the common bunking area of the second level just below. Of course, that space was unattended by that hour of the morning.

Though he'd heard some noise coming from down below on the main level, he hadn't seen anyone since his Guild Porter, Dale Gavinus, had been up to complain about the mess that Henrik and Catius had been leaving in the kitchen area again. Karl hadn't been in the mood for any of that guff. He'd told Dale to sort it out himself or else take it to Montrose, his second-in-command in the guildhall.

After the meetings of the previous day with those Legion commanders, things were likely to be a fair bit quieter that day. Even so, he still had some work ahead of him once he was sure of exactly how many Guild Fighters he'd have at his disposal for the coming task.

Instead of immediately returning his attention to the mess of documents laid out in front of him, Karl looked back to the open window again, releasing a long sigh. His thoughts idly drifted toward nothing of consequence as he stared at the leaves of the big oak tree, gently shifting with the mild breeze.

A loudly cawing crow suddenly landed on the windowsill, startling Karl and shaking him from his instantly forgotten daydream. The dark bird glared back at him with its dark eye. It almost seemed like the crow was issuing a challenge of sorts.

Without shifting from his chair, the Orc waved his arm in a threatening fashion. "Git outa here, ya bastard."

The bird took flight quickly enough. Karl grunted, satisfied that the crow hadn't left its shit on the windowsill. At least, not on that particular occasion. He was pretty sure it was the same crow every bloody time. It was probably a lucky thing that he wasn't much good with throwing daggers at small targets, not that the bird knew that.

Karl returned his attention to the desk, if not the immediate task at hand. It seemed that he'd passed much of the past decade behind that desk. For most of that time, he'd served as second to the Guild Master of Chorrol's Fighters Guild. Of course, that particular circumstance had changed rather dramatically about six months back, after the former head of the Guild got himself killed by a deadly trap in some ancient ruins.

Karl shook his head as he thought about how the old boss went out. He figured that old Lucius ought to have had more sense than that, especially at his age. He might have been as fit as a man of half his years, but was still past sixty. That was getting well on in years for any ordinary man of Imperial blood.

The big Orc shook his head again, thinking of his own recent behaviour. For more than three months, Karl had procrastinated without good reason, continuing to serve only as acting Guild Master.

For the most part, he'd really been doing the job of Guildhead for years, in action, if not actually in name. After all, the boss was hardly around, even if he was supposed to be the one in charge. He'd mostly left his second to manage most of the day-to-day operations of the Guild. For about eleven years, that had been Karl.

Eventually, Karl had accepted the perfectly obvious, along with the advice of some of his peers, and some external pressure from the Elder Council, and finally stepped up to officially take the head position.

Accepting the role of the Guildhead of Chorrol wasn't just about being in charge as the head of a local guildhall. It also meant serving as the Guild Master of all the affiliated Fighters Guild of the Empire.

That role was no small responsibility. Still, it didn't mean the same thing as when his older brothers had started out at Chorrol's guildhall during the time of the Septim Dynasty.

Things had changed a whole lot since the passing of the last of the Septim Emperors, that brief time under Potentate Ocato, and then all that trouble during what became known as the Stormcrown Interregnum.

By the time that Titus Mede had finally seized the Ruby Throne and taken on the responsibility of Emperor, the Cyrodiilic Empire no longer unified all of Tamriel.

Since shortly after the ending of the Oblivion Crisis, one by one, several provinces had broken away from the Imperial Province of Cyrodiil. During Ocato's brief reign, a number of lands claimed either partial or total independence from Imperial rule for one reason or another.

One of the first provinces to officially cede from the Empire was the eastern homeland of the reptilian people known as Argonians. Under the influence of the An-Xileel rebels, Black Marsh broke from the Empire, becoming the independent land of Argonia.

The land of the feline Khajiit followed, albeit in a slightly different manner. Without the cultural influence of a living Mane, Elsweyr had gradually broken up into a group of squabbling kingdoms; each one independent of one another and the rule of the floundering Empire of Cyrodiil. Though the independent Kingdom of Rimmen remained friendly to the Empire, it stood apart and alone.

During all of that, even Cyrodiil was poised on the brink of breaking apart. The rebellions of counties Bravil and Leyawiin had already been threatening to fracture the Imperial province beyond repair.

Immediately before the time that Titus Mede took the throne, the rift between west and east in that province stood to further that peril. If Mede's gambit had failed, it could easily have meant the end of the Empire.

Even once he'd taken the Imperial City, Mede had his work cut out for him to pull things back together. That task had hardly been a bloodless one, but he managed to get there in the end. At least, it would seem, for the most part.

Another hazard loomed on the horizon during that period. That one came from the land of the High Elves. The ruling Altmer of the Summerset Isles had been already been making moves toward abandoning the Empire ever since the turmoil following the death of Emperor Uriel Septim VII.

A decade later, following the assassination of Potentate Ocato, the rebellious Thalmor faction of the Summerset Isles seized further control of that province, eventually declaring full independence and renaming those lands as Alinor.

The homeland of the Bosmer was the next to go. Before the passing of another decade, Alinor's Thalmor played a part in the overthrowing of Valenwood's governing body. At that time, those two former provinces joined as one to become the new Aldmeri Dominion, closing their borders to all outsiders. It had been nearly a thousand years since the High Elves and Wood Elves had last stood together in that fashion. Though in that new regime, it was fair to assume that the Bosmer were hardly equal partners.

Even once proper order and stability was restored in the Imperial Province and those other provinces that remained loyal to the old Empire had been persuaded of accepting the new one, the Empire of Titus Mede ruled over perhaps just half of Tamriel.

The Empire of the early fourth era looked rather different from that of the third era. It included only the provinces of Cyrodiil, Hammerfell, High Rock, Skyrim and Morrowind.

Given that the fortunes of the Fighters Guild had grown so closely tied to that of the Ruby Throne during the reign of the Septim Dynasty, all of those things had profound affects upon that guild over the past few decades.

As the Fighters Guild had become so reliant upon funding from the Imperial coffers, it had almost collapsed during the first two decades of that new era. On the brighter side, things had turned around a fair bit for the Guild under the rule of that new Emperor, both politically and financially. Even so, in the greater scheme of things, the Fighters Guild remained far less substantial than it had been during earlier times.

Since those other lands were no longer subject to the rule of the Imperial City, there was effectively no presence of associated Fighters Guild in Argonia, Elsweyr, Valenwood or the former Summerset Isles.

All of that meant that there were a whole lot fewer guildhalls about by that time, and even then, not all of them answered directly to the Guild Master at Chorrol.

There were no guildhalls at all in the broken province of Morrowind. That had been the case for decades, ever since shortly after the eruption of Red Mountain and subsequent Argonian invasion that followed not long afterward.

After all those troubles, it seemed that were more of the gray-skinned Dunmer living outside of Morrowind than within its borders. It was reasonable to think that the only reason that Morrowind was still part of the Empire, was because the Dark Elves were in no position to really stand on their own. If anything, that province seemed like more of a burden upon the Empire, than any sort of asset.

At least for the time being, the Nord province of Skyrim seemed to remain beyond reasonable reach of Chorrol's Fighters Guild. Its two remaining guildhalls had gone their own way a fair while back and the Jarls of the Holds seemed to prefer their traditional Companions of Whiterun over an Imperial funded Fighters Guild.

In High Rock, the Fighters Guild did remain an ongoing concern of sorts. However, each of those remaining guildhalls of that northern province had remained independent of Chorrol since the ending of the Stormcrown Interregnum.

Each of High Rock's guildhalls still followed the Fighters Guild Charter, but they stood apart from Chorrol and one another, answering only to local rule and coin.

Just a short while back, Karl had made some effort to reach out to those guildhalls via the head of Wayrest's Fighters Guild. Recent correspondence from Guildhead Wickfield indicated that she'd renewed regular contact with the guildhalls of Evermore and Shornhelm. It was still too early to expect any word of Daggerfall or Camlorn.

Karl hadn't been expecting any prospect of those guildhalls jumping at the opportunity to come back to the fold. At best, he was hoping that those independent guildhalls might be encouraged to returning to working with one another within their own region.

If that sort of thing fell into place, then he might have some chance of getting them to hold periodic summits or meetings or something like that. Even if he had no direct say over how they ran their own patches, he felt like they ought to be talking to one another like they were all part of the same guild. He'd be feeling even better if they were at least talking to the Chorrol office as well. Even if it was only as a matter of courtesy.

For the time being, the Fighters Guild that came directly under Karl's oversight included only those guildhalls of Cyrodiil and Eastern Hammerfell.

He paused on that thought, scratching an itch on one of his pointed ears and reminding himself that there was one more guildhall now. It was the first new one in a long time.

It would have been about four weeks back, when he finally received the news. It was the last week of First Seed, the end of summer. That was when he received the proper confirmation that his recent visit to Sentinel had proved fruitful.

It took more than a good two months, but the Imperial Consul to Sentinel, Tertius Cipius, had finally succeeded in his negotiations with Sentinel's King and his advisers.

Back when Karl was in Sentinel, just a few months earlier, he'd been real glad that the Consul had been willing to negotiate on his behalf. Those western Redguard weren't likely to be real interested in dealing with an Orc, even if he was more of an Imperial city-Orc and acting as head of the Fighters Guild. Some of the tan-skinned Redguard held a fair bit of contempt for the Orcs of that region. Especially some of the ruling class of that region. They played a big part in the sacking of Orsinium a few decades ago.

Of course, Cipius was perfectly suited to that sort of negotiation. He'd been one of the advisers assisting Crown Prince Attrebus to get those trade agreements with some of the northern kingdoms of Elsweyr just a few years before.

By the end of those recent negotiations, the Consul had managed to get pretty much everything that they wanted. The permanent presence of the Fighters Guild in Sentinel had been officially embraced by the ruler. As expected, there was some haggling over the specifics of jurisdiction in deference to local authorities. Still, most of that had been sorted in an equitable fashion.

Since Sentinel was the capital of Hammerfell, the King was keen to see a shifting of focus back toward his city. For some time, he'd been uncomfortable with the appearance that Rihad hosted the most prominent Fighters Guild presence in Hammerfell. That wouldn't change right away, but it had to start somewhere.

The Legion troops stationed at Sentinel had recently shifted into their freshly constructed garrison just outside the city walls. As hoped, the Fighters Guild had been granted leasehold over the old Legion house in the Foreign Quarter to serve as their new guildhall.

To begin with, there were just those four Guild Fighters that had been stationed there in a temporary fashion. Corvus Ceno was stepping up to serve as Guildhead and as expected, Taimar was serving as his second. For the time being, Dorian and Bjorn made up the rest.

That meant they were starting off with just half of the members being Redguard. They were expected to look to the local Redguard populace to expand their number. Exactly how that would work out, remained to be seen.

At Karl's suggestion, the Guildhead of Rihad, Razaal, would soon be leaving that city to spend a couple of weeks making sure that Ceno was fully across his responsibilities as Guildhead in Sentinel. Of course, Karl didn't know Corvus Ceno all that well, but he knew Razaal well enough and trusted him to sort things. Even though they'd never really served side-by-side for any period, they'd both trained under Azzan at different times, when they were younger, and they'd known each other for years.

"Corvus." Karl mumbled under his breath, stifling a mild chuckle.

He glanced to the open window, almost involuntarily. He knew that 'corvus' was an old Imperial word for crows and ravens. Karl got his name from Karl Fairbeard, the Nord who helped bring him into the world when his father was away. Even if it didn't sound too Orcish, it had to be better than being named after a bloody crow.

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><p>Monika Northwind's sharp sigh was punctuated by a tutting noise. "It looks like you're pulling to the right."<p>

Alex Pinewatch released a quiet breath. Since she was using that tone that served to remind him of her superior rank in the Guild, he said nothing.

"Can I have another look at that bow?" She sounded frustrated.

"Yes, of course." Alex relaxed his draw on the arrow that he was preparing to launch and passed it over to her.

As intended, they'd stopped in at the blacksmith's store earlier that morning. Just as they'd expected, Alex's damaged bow was declared unrepairable. The old smith did have just that one elven bow in the store. If he'd wanted a bow similar to his old one, it was that one or nothing. In the store, it had certainly looked like a piece of good quality.

He'd passed the last half-hour out the back of the Fighters Guild trying to get used to that new bow. At a glance, it might have looked a lot like the old one, but it didn't quite feel the same.

Monika again tested the tension of the draw and checked the balance of the bow, then took careful aim and fired at the target. She made another noise that indicated her annoyance as the arrow struck to one side of where she'd aimed. "It's not you. It's this bow. Try aiming just a little to the left."

She handed the weapon back to Alex. He took her advice on board as he tried again. The arrow still struck wide of the centre of the target, but it was better than before.

"That was a lot closer." Monika tried to sound encouraging.

Alex remained annoyed with his performance. Since he'd first started with the Guild, archery had always been his strongest skill. That morning, he wasn't looking quite so skilful. He glanced toward young Vinnus Odiil training with sword and shield by one of the wooden practice dummies. Catius was watching over him. Henrik was sparring with the new guy, Janus Loran.

Returning his attention to the task at hand, Alex lined up another shot and loosed the arrow at the target. That time, it struck much closer to the centre. If only to prove that it wasn't luck, he quickly drew again. The second shot struck just as near.

"Much better." Monika offered.

"Yes, I think I have a better judgement of the sight. At least, at this range."

"My friends." The male voice came from behind.

Monika and Alex turned to see two familiar faces.

The Imperial man stood there in his well-worn mithril armour with his slightly newer mithril helmet tucked under his arm. As usual, he travelled light, carrying only his bladed weapons and that lighter satchel slung from his shoulder. He beamed at them with his gray-blue eyes. A broad grin shone through his fastidiously kept goatee beard. The sunlight caught the flecks of gray on his neatly cropped head of hair.

The slightly younger Imperial woman stood at his side. She wore the same armour that she had the last time they'd seen her. It was that customised steel armour that was fashioned in a style more typical of Colovian iron armour. She was also travelling far lighter than the last time they'd crossed paths. She carried a smaller pack on her back, instead of all that stuff that she'd been lugging about after leaving Kvatch behind.

Rena Maplewood was probably in her early-to-mid thirties, though she seemed to look just a touch younger than that. Her blue eyes were a shade darker than those of her companion. Her dark brown hair was cut to a slightly shorter style, but remained feminine.

Malcolm Forester spoke up again. "The porter mentioned that you were out here. Are we interrupting?"

"I am just adjusting to this new bow." Alex glanced to Monika.

Monika shrugged. "Yeah well, might be time for a break." She took a few steps toward Forester and Maplewood. Alex followed just behind her. "How have you been?" She looked to both of them with a friendly smile.

Rena responded first. "We've been well. Both of us."

"I thought that you might not be here until tomorrow." Alex passed the comment.

Forester cleared his throat. "Yes well, I suppose that our other comrades from Skingrad may not arrive until then. We've just come directly from Brindle Home."

"Your father's horse breeding farm?" Alex made the suggestion.

Forester made that noise again. "Ahem. Yes, quite right."

A quick look passed between Rena and Monika that neither Alex nor Forester seemed to notice.

Alex spoke again. "We have not seen you since returning from the west." Almost six months had passed by since that return journey from Sentinel.

Forester responded. "Yes well, circumstances have not brought us to the same place at the time. Not until now." He paused. "Aside from the usual and that business in the south, I should say that things have gone quite well enough, since that time." His glance flickered to his companion. "Of course, Rena was officially accepted to Skingrad's guildhall by Guildhead Canne."

"Yeah, we heard that, from Karl." Monika acknowledged that last part.

Maplewood nodded with a subtle smile. "We crossed paths with a couple of your friends a few weeks back."

"Yes, that's right." Forester affirmed. "That would have been the day before Harvest's End. We stopped by at the Wawnet Inn. On our way back from the Imperial City."

Monika nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, Belwen said you were there. We were there the following week, during all that rain."

"It would seem to me that Belwen has worked out quite well for the inn." Forester made the observation.

"Yeah." Monika agreed, seemingly chewing on a passing thought.

During the previous year, Monika had bought into the Wawnet Inn as part owner. Of course that had a lot to do with the friendship between her mother and Nerussa, the ageing Altmer woman that owned the inn. Those two had been rather close, back when Monika's mother still lived in the Imperial City.

Having the opportunity to offer Belwen work at the inn, had just been a convenient situation of coincidence. Nerussa had just lost another assistant, the second in a few short months. Since she was very nearly blind, she needed another one to help her run the place.

At around the same time, they'd rescued that Wood Elf girl and her Khajiit travelling companion near the border with Elsweyr. The pair had been on the run from Aldmeri soldiers that were up to no good on the wrong side of their closed borders.

"How has Ras'Dar worked out in Skingrad?" Alex posed the question.

Forester answered. "He's worked out quite well. He's already reached second rank in the Guild. He's quite the fast learner… enthusiastic, I should say."

Maplewood interjected. "Ras'Dar should be here tomorrow, along with the others."

Forester nodded. "Yes, I expect they should be here by then. Guildhead Canne was planning to wait until the last moment, since she's sending everyone. He glanced at the other Guild Fighters in the outdoor training area. "I suspect that things are about to become rather crowded around here very soon."

Monika responded to that. "Yeah. Frederick arrived yesterday with some others from Bruma. Looks like they've staked out the tavern of the Oak and Crosier."

Forester affected a crooked grin. "I should take that warning to heed."

Maplewood jabbed him in the mid-section with her elbow.

Forester responded with raised eyebrows. "Ahem. Of course, Frederick is a good friend and respected colleague." He paused, shaking his head slightly. "However, I'd much rather be somewhere else when he's guzzling tankards."

Monika grimaced. "Can't argue with that."

"They were quite noisy in the tavern last night." Alex noted.

Forester winced, looking to Rena. "I suppose that there might still be accommodation available at the Arborwatch Tavern. It's somewhat overpriced, but more reasonable than the Empire Inn."

Maplewood offered her opinion. "Sounds better than bunking at the guildhall."

"Yes, I expect so." Forester agreed.

Monika glanced toward the sky, noting that the sun was reaching its apex. "We might take a bit of a break from this. Maybe join you at the tavern. Get something to eat and catch up on things."

"Sounds good to me." Rena agreed for the both of them.

"Right then," Monika settled, looking to Alex. "Give us a moment to put things away and then we'll head over to the Arborwatch."

Once Alex had retrieved his arrows, they set aside their weapons inside the guildhall and then headed off with their friends for that tavern by the western side of the plaza of Great Oak Place.

~O~


	3. Chapter 3

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 3

Morndas the 27th of Hearthfire 4E49 Afternoon

Upstairs, in his office on the upper level of the Fighters Guild, Karl gro-Baroth noticed that it must have gone on midday. He could tell from just looking out the window. The increased level of noise coming from the plaza down below was another fair indication.

Looking back to the documents on his desk, Karl still failed to properly turn his mind toward the work that lay immediately ahead. Most of it was pretty well sorted anyway. At least, until everyone finished turning up in Chorrol. Instead, he cast his thoughts back over those other troublesome incidents of the past few months.

Those problems in the south of Cyrodiil started during the time he was away. That was while he was visiting those other guildhalls of the west, on his way over to Sentinel and Wayrest. The thrust of it all began with those coordinated raiding attacks on some of the smaller settlements of counties Leyawiin and Bravil. From reports, the raiders were a mixed bunch, but the greater number of them seemed to be Khajiit.

By the time that Karl had returned from Iliac Bay and arrived back in Chorrol, that trouble wasn't quite over. Still, it seemed like the worst of it had been dealt with and the efforts that were already in play looked likely to resolve the situation before too long.

During his absence, Montrose had already sent some of Chorrol's Guild Fighters down to help out at Bravil and Water's Edge. Leyawiin's guildhall had no shortage of active Guild Fighters at the time. Surely, enough to manage on their own. At the same time, the Imperial Legion had deployed additional troops to those southern regions. Collectively, it seemed that they had the matter in hand, for the most part.

Though that trouble in the south had already been losing some momentum by the time that Karl had even learned of it, it did sporadically persist throughout the summer, before eventually tapering off altogether after several further engagements. The sustained cooperative efforts of the Fighters Guild and Legion served to produce that result in the end.

Of course, that unexpected assistance from Rimmen's Regulators also played some part in that. Still, he didn't try to read too much into that thing. It was more the case of a coincidence of interests and chance encounters at just that right time. It wasn't like the Regulators were about to be transformed back into a Fighters Guild outfit just because of that successful collaboration.

If it hadn't been for the Guildhead of Leyawiin getting himself killed in one of the major engagements with a raider camp, most of what went down looked like it went fairly well by the end of it. Of course, a fair few Legionnaires also lost their lives in the effort to restore order in the south, but that part wasn't really Karl's concern. At least, not directly anyway.

One thing in particular still nagged at his thoughts over all of that business. They never did gain proper confirmation that it was the Renrijra Krin behind all those repeated raids on the settlements, but it sure looked like it. Some of the raiders looked to have come from the regular outlaw types of that region, but a lot of them were Khajiit.

In fact, the Khajiit seemed to make up most of the numbers. It was probably rather fortunate that none of those really big Cathay-raht warriors or Senche battle-cats were involved in it. That would've made things even more difficult.

Some information had been passed on from Rimmen that an Ohmes Khajiit from Torval, in the west of Elsweyr, had played some part in it. There were no proper details, names or anything like that. Only that one of those Khajiit that looked more like an elf had whipped up the Khajiit in the eastern territories with gold in hand.

Even so, that thing remained an unconfirmed rumour, albeit one that fit the circumstances fairly neatly. It was a fair guess that either the flow of gold ran out, or else the remaining raiders just lost the will to pursue a losing proposition. Either way, it was over and done with, at least for now.

Karl released a long sigh. He was just thinking that the Penitus Oculatus probably knew a lot more about it than would ever be revealed. That bunch only really answered to the Emperor. They only shared information with the Fighters Guild and the proper Legion when it suited their needs. Even then, it was fair to assume that only part of the story was ever freely shared.

He grunted at the irony of that. The Penitus Oculatus had only been around for barely three decades. During that time, aside from reporting to the Emperor and his closest advisers, it almost seemed as though they operated as a law unto themselves.

They were nothing like the Blades, the group that served to protect the Emperors of the Septim Dynasty. That lot had a long history of serving Imperial rule, going all the way back to their beginnings in the Dragonguard of the second era and before that. Even before the formation of the Blades, some people from the old Dragonguard supposedly played a part in the founding of the early Fighters Guild.

Either way, the group known as the Blades actually came into existence with the ascendance of Tiber Septim and his Empire of the third era. They'd held a position of importance and respect for more than three hundred years.

Then they'd fallen aside with the ending of the Septim line, something they'd failed to prevent. They still held that fortress in the north of County Bruma, Cloud Ruler Temple, but they seemed to hold no relevance with regard to the new Imperial regime.

The Penitus Oculatus had been formed to serve and protect the rule of the Ruby Throne and the new Imperial family, but without the whole notion of 'divine right' that motivated the Blades. In their case, it seemed to be more about whatever it took to get the job done. They acted to keep the Emperor and Empire safe, but kept everybody else in the dark.

Those passing thoughts also reminded Karl that the Mages Guild had formed long before the Blades, even before the Fighters Guild. The Mages Guild had floundered during Ocato's brief rule and been dissolved before Titus Mede came to power.

In its place, the College of Whispers and the Synod had emerged. The College of Whispers had pretty much taken over the role of the old Mages Guild with the general public, whereas the Synod operated more closely with Imperial rule. That was where the Imperial Battlemages ended up, along with anything that vaguely represented the kind of thing that required the oversight of the powers that be.

It had only been during the past decade or so that those two organisations had properly stabilised. It was even more recent that they'd started to behave in a more cooperative fashion. That was only after all the mess with that flying city from an Oblivion realm.

Not for the first time of late, he wondered whether the Fighters Guild's days were numbered. Not that he wanted anything like that to come about. In fact, he intended to do his level best to avoid that kind of outcome.

During the Stormcrown Interregnum, they'd already had a bit of a taste of what things might be like without a proper Fighters Guild around and it didn't look too good. The last thing the Empire needed was a bunch of unregulated mercenary outfits running operations that weren't a whole lot different from outlaw gangs.

By Karl's reckoning, things might turn out just as bad if the Penitus Oculatus ended up taking over too much of the Guild's bailiwick. Even if some Guild Fighters might take to that sort of thing, he had to figure that a lot would probably end up running with those shadier mercenary types.

The big Orc shook his head. As much as all those things were going to keep coming back to his thoughts, he needed to worry about the things that affected him in the here and now.

Chorrol's guildhall was still down by one or two, on where things were just a few months before. For a start, his moving up to take the place of the former head meant that someone else needed to move up to second. Though that wasn't really as much of a change as it could've been. Karl still passed most of his time in that office and Montrose still operated in the field, for the most part.

However, they'd just recently lost two more from the field. Varro and Nonius had both retired from the Guild after returning from County Leyawiin. The thought of that provoked Karl to suppress a snort. They were only a couple of years older than him. He was just about to turn fifty, but he wasn't planning on packing it in for another decade or so. Though he did plan to pass more of that time managing the Guild than swinging his battleaxe.

Still, he'd figured that something like that was coming with Varro and Nonius. Those two had come into the Guild directly from the Legion with the old boss. Since they could no longer run about all over the place with their old mentor and neither of them were putting up their hands to take on Guild Master, or even second, their departure came as no big surprise.

At least Chorrol had managed to acquire that one new guy, just a couple of months back. Janus Loran was another former soldier of the Imperial Legion. In his case, he had something of a more direct connection to Chorrol. His father's oldest brother had been a priest in Chorrol's Chapel of Stendarr a few years back.

Loran had previously served in the Twelfth Legion. He'd still been fairly young when they'd fought off the hordes of undead marching on the Imperial City, ahead of that flying city that threatened everything in its path. Of course, he'd been one of the lucky ones that actually lived to speak of it. A lot of Legionnaires weren't so lucky.

After sticking with the Legion for the past few years, Loran had gained enough skill and experience to make a fair Guild Fighter. By Karl's estimate, as long as he stuck with it, he ought to rise fairly quickly through the ranks. He'd already moved straight from recruit to first rank nearly right away, based on his demonstrated ability alone.

Janus Loran was a good start, but Karl was going to need to look into finding another one or two Guild Fighters for Chorrol, if he wanted to stay ahead of things. In any event, that was a problem for another day. The current matter was the goblins.

That problem had been building up over the past couple of years. A good twenty years had gone by since the last big goblin cull had taken place. It had become fairly obvious that the number of goblins in The Great Forest had grown a lot since that time.

Montrose and Northwind had come across that large colony of goblins in the middle of the forest about the same time the previous year. The increased number of reports of goblins coming out of the forests since that time were a fair indication that there were a whole lot more of them about.

Chorrol had dealt with several isolated incidents over the past year. It was usually just a small number of goblins straying further afield and intruding upon farms and settlements, but it had been growing far more frequent.

Guildhead Canne had reported more incidents to the north and east of Skingrad during recent times. There were also further isolated incidents along The Gold Road.

Just a month back, the Guild Fighters of Bruma had dealt with goblins at Aleswell and the Bleaker's Way settlement. It had been years since there'd been goblin sightings anywhere near those settlements.

It had become fairly obvious that the population of goblins was starting to outstrip the availability of food. That's why they were roaming and migrating further afield. That also meant that something needed to be done about it before it grew any worse.

During Karl's second visit to the Imperial City since taking the role of Guild Master, he managed to secure support for a proper goblin culling in The Great Forest. By support, that meant Imperial funds for payment of the Guild's fighters and some temporary Legion support.

With the recent upturn in goblins threatening the common folk, that hadn't been too difficult. Added to that, the generals of the Legion were just as keen to have their soldiers involved. After all, it wasn't enough to just have a standing army. It was just as important to have them seen to be acting in service of the common good.

The Legion was still riding on the success on those recent operations in the southern counties of Cyrodiil. The idea of an organised goblin culling in The Great Forest wasn't just something that needed to be done. Provided that it achieved the desired result, it made everyone involved look good and seem more necessary in the general scheme of things.

Karl had already spoken with those Legion commanders over the past couple of days, confirming exactly what they were planning, so that he could coordinate Fighters Guild activities to work in with that.

Adding to those current members of Chorrol's guildhall, Guildhead Canne had told him that she was sending pretty much everyone over from Skingrad.

Guillard said he was sending over some of his people from Bruma. Karl figured on seeing a bunch of Nords, since most of the Guild Fighters of Bruma were Nords.

Unexpectedly, Drals Vedran of Cheydinhal was sending over some people. From what Karl had heard, it wasn't actually Vedran's idea. Apparently, Alaron Suvaris had gotten wind of what was going on and he pressed his Guildhead on the matter.

With Guild Fighters from four local guildhalls, Karl figured that he'd have enough to work with to match up with what he had in mind.

Once everybody had arrived in Chorrol and reported in, he intended to call them together and outline those plans. After that, he'd be sending out the teams to their various locations, coordinated with the movements of the Legion.

Karl nodded to himself as he looked over the map and his notes. By his reckoning, it all looked pretty good. The Legion troops would be starting to move out for those specified locations over the next two days. As soon as the rest of those Guild Fighters turned up, he could get everything moving along.

A grumbling noise from his belly reminded him that he hadn't eaten since just after the dawn. Dealing with that, meant heading downstairs for the kitchen. Still, all that sitting around and planning strategies really was making him feel restless. Since nobody was coming upstairs, he figured he might as well go down there and find out whether anybody had reported in from the other guildhalls and what everyone else was up to.

* * *

><p>After leaving the guildhall behind, Alex Pinewatch and Monika Northwind joined Forester and Maplewood, making their way for the Arborwatch Tavern. That place was not far. It was located just across the crowded main plaza on the western side.<p>

Even though it was the peak of midday activities, the tavern was only just a little busy inside. Given that everything was just a bit more costly in that place, it was not quite as crowded as some other places. However, since it was not nearly as spacious as the Empire Inn, the most expensive place in town, that tavern did still seem a little crowded.

Before doing anything else, Malcolm Forester and Rena Maplewood looked into securing accommodations, then took the time to stash their belongings upstairs.

By the time they'd come back downstairs to the main tavern area, Alex had found a suitable table to hold for a group of four and Monika had looked into ordering food and drink.

Soon enough, the four friends were sitting about the table, eating venison pie and sipping Colovian ale. Actually, only three of them were sipping at ale. Alex wasn't much for strong drink, but since that place kept no unfermented apple juice, Monika had provided him with a mild cider.

As they worked through the pie, the broken conversation seemed to hold to that current topic which directly related to why everyone was gathering at Chorrol.

Responding to Forester's comments of recent goblin encounters and his concerns for his family at Brindle Home, Alex mentioned some of the incidents about the Odiil Farms and Weynon Priory settlements.

Monika had interrupted him, clarifying that only very small groups of goblins had plagued those settlements at any given time, generally only between two and six.

Alex added that the Fort Ash settlement had also had some repeated trouble with goblins over the past few months.

Monika quickly countered that the presence of the small Legion garrison at that old fort meant that those few goblins that strayed near hadn't been too difficult to manage.

Maplewood remarked that she thought there seemed to be a bit of a westward movement of goblins moving out of the heavily wooded parts of the forest. She also mentioned that she couldn't recall too many goblins about during her years in Kvatch. She'd heard that they were supposed to be about in the foothills of the north of County Kvatch, but since nobody lived up that way, it didn't matter too much.

That prompted Forester to speak further of the migrating goblins that they recently dealt with in County Skingrad. Over the past three or four months, they'd needed to take the fight to three caves and an abandoned mine. Three of those locations had been along The Gold Road between Skingrad and the Imperial City, posing a direct threat to roadside travel and trade. With a mix of weariness and alarm in his voice, he'd related that one of those caves had attracted a breakaway group of goblins that numbered nearly twenty.

Monika suggested that what Karl had been planning should make a serious dent in the goblin population. She expressed her confidence that there ought to be a lot less goblin migration by the time they were done. Of course, her comments were intended to suggest that Brindle Home would be less likely to be facing problems with goblins.

With their mugs emptied, Forester volunteered to attend to the matter of acquiring a second round of drinks. Alex offered to go with him to help.

Something had been nagging at Monika's peripheral perception ever since they'd sat down to eat. Once those other two were just out of earshot, Monika looked to Rena. "Is there something going on?"

Maplewood returned a wide-eyed expression, conveying an unspoken question.

"You and Forester… you both seem… I dunno…" Monika waved a hand absently.

Rena looked to be biting upon her inner cheek as she suppressed a little smirk.

Monika leaned inward over the table in a conspiratorial fashion. With a slight frown, she shook her head. The expression in her eyes seemed hopeful of provoking a response.

Maplewood's smile broadened briefly, glancing toward the main service bar, and then she also leaned inward over the table. "Yeah, we ah… we got married."

"What?" Monika managed to surprise herself with her own outburst. She lowered her voice and leaned in even further. "Married? What… when? Married? How did… how did that come about?"

Rena chuckled mildly and shrugged. "Yeah, I dunno. It kinda… just happened."

Monika shook her head in disbelief. "Just happened?"

Rena stole a quick glance toward the service bar. "Yeah well, y'know… we'd been spending quite a lot of time together and well… one thing led to another and well… it kinda just happened." She shrugged with a mischievous smile.

Monika returned an awkward smile, still shaking her head. "But… married? Last time we saw you two, you weren't even…" She stopped with her mouth left hanging open.

"We'd been living together in his house for months. After we got back from the Imperial City a few weeks ago, we just decided. Went to the temple and made it official."

Monika still seemed astounded. There'd been no sign at all of anything between them the last time she'd seen them. "So, uh… that makes you Forester and…?"

Rena tilted her head coyly. "I still go by Maplewood. Otherwise, it'd be too confusing around the guildhall."

"Does he still make you call him Forester?"

Rena chuckled. "No, no, but you know he doesn't like Malcolm."

Forester and Alex finally approached the table with drinks in hand. Monika suddenly fell silent. Rena maintained a bemused expression. Neither of the men seemed to notice anything amiss.

Forester set down his ale, passing another over to Maplewood, before taking his seat. "Alex was just telling me that Frederick only came here with three others from Bruma."

"Only four of them?" Rena thought there were about six or seven active fighters with Bruma's guildhall. At least, that was what Forester had previously told her.

Alex interjected, as he took his seat and passed a mug of ale to Monika. "Cheydinhal is sending over some people as well."

Forester seemed surprised. "Really?"

"That is what I heard." Alex looked to Monika.

Monika responded distractedly. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, Karl mentioned that. He told me that Vedran is sending over some Guild Fighters to help out."

Forester's expression reflected some slight confusion. He thought that Drals Vedran generally seemed far more concerned with his own region and more to the point, with his own people, the Dunmer of Cheydinhal.

Monika elaborated a little. "Apparently, it wasn't Vedran's idea. Alaron Suvaris."

Forester nodded. "Ah, I see. Suvaris does tend look more toward the broader view than his Guildhead."

Rena also nodded her understanding. She didn't actually know Suvaris, other than by reputation, though Forester had spoken of him before.

Alex didn't actually know Suvaris either. Monika had previously mentioned that she'd met him, but didn't really know him that well. At least, not as well as Forester did.

Forester finished a sip from his mug. "I do look forward to meeting up with Suvaris again. He's a good man… er, Dunmer. I don't think I've seen him in almost a year."

"Was that when everyone was looking for that… artefact?" Alex made the suggestion.

Forester cleared his throat. "Well, yes. It was around that time."

An awkward moment of silence passed. About a year earlier, Alex, Monika and Forester had inadvertently become briefly entangled in the pursuit of a foreign Dunmer, after he took possession of that Daedric artefact. Though she hadn't actually known what it was, it was Belwen who'd brought it from Valenwood, via Elsweyr. After they'd lost track of that mysterious Dunmer, the whole thing had become a matter for the Penitus Oculatus. They never actually learned what happened afterward, to either the artefact or the Dunmer.

Rena had noticed odd glances pass between the other three. "What am I missing?"

Forester glanced about the tavern and cleared his throat again. "Nothing of special consequence. Did I mention that Suvaris expressed some concerns over how those Vigilants of Stendarr operated around Cheydinhal?"

Rena returned an odd expression. "Yeah, you mentioned that."

"Of course." Forester took another sip from his mug.

Maplewood held a similar low level of regard for the Vigilants of Stendarr. At least, those ones she'd been made to work with in Kvatch, as part of the cooperation between the Fighters Guild and Vigilants in that city. That had been one of the main factors behind her decision to leave Kvatch in the first place. Still, she didn't appreciate that poorly disguised attempt to deflect her attention from whatever it was that remained unspoken.

Forester tried to shift the topic once again. "Well then, do we have any idea exactly when we'll be heading out? Or perhaps, exactly where we'll be going?"

Monika responded to the query. "I've seen some of what Karl has in mind. He's just waiting to see exactly how many Guild Fighters are turning up."

Forester anticipated the likely. "I take it that we'll be separating into smaller teams?"

Monika nodded over her mug. "Yeah, something like that. Each group will be assigned a particular area."

Alex chimed in. "Karl met with some Legion commanders yesterday."

"I heard they were going to be involved." Rena passed the comment.

Monika continued. "Yeah, Legion troops are s'posed to be covering certain areas of the forest. The Fighters Guild should be covering the main part of the forest east of The Black Road. From here to Fort Ash, anyway."

"Isn't there that Ayleid ruin in the middle of the forest?" Forester raised that.

Monika nodded. "Yeah, Lindai. There was a big goblin colony there last year. That's gonna be where some of the teams meet up to deal with that."

"Makes sense." Rena agreed.

Monika resumed. "That's just the broad strokes of it. Don't reckon we'll hear all the final details until Karl's ready to send us all out." She raised her mug again. She seemed to be almost guzzling, as opposed to sipping.

Alex offered his opinion. "I expect that we will be heading out in another two or three days, at the most."

Rena glanced to Forester. "Yeah, might as well rest up while we can."

Forester responded. "Yes, I think an early evening might be in order. I'm feeling a little fatigued after that march from Brindle Home."

"Maybe you're just getting old?" Rena winked over her mug as she took a sip.

Forester returned a slightly annoyed expression, choosing to sip from his mug, rather offer any rebuttal.

Monika set aside her empty mug, looking somewhat restless. "I reckon we oughta get a bit more training in before the day is done. Alex needs to get a proper feel for that new bow."

Alex released a short sigh. "Yes, I suppose you are right about that."

Monika looked to Alex. "I hope that cider isn't going to affect your aim."

"I think I have had enough anyway." He set aside the mug. It was still half full.

Forester observed that Monika was preparing to leave. "Ahem, I'm sure that we'll have time to speak again before things get under way."

"Maybe, we should get in a bit of training tomorrow." Rena made the suggestion.

Forester looked to Alex and Monika. "Yes, why not? In that case, I expect we'd see you at the guildhall tomorrow?"

Rising from her seat, Monika passed a quick glance to Forester, then Maplewood in turn. "Yeah, tomorrow then?"

"Of course." Forester agreed cheerfully.

Monika and Alex departed and headed back for the Fighters Guild.

~O~


	4. Chapter 4

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 4

Morndas the 27th of Hearthfire 4E49 Evening

It was just going on dark outside as Malcolm Forester and Rena Maplewood headed back up to their rented room at the Arborwatch Tavern. By that time, they'd just finished a rather early evening meal ahead of the anticipated nightly rush.

Earlier, just after Northwind and Pinewatch had left them there at the Arborwatch, they'd left the main tavern area and gone off to make use of the bathroom facilities. After cleaning up and shedding their armour, they'd retired to their upstairs room for a while.

During that latter part of the afternoon, a lengthy discourse passed between the two of them as they sorted their belongings in their room. Ever since that earlier discussion in the tavern, Rena had been dwelling on a couple of things of particular note.

After neatly stacking her weapons and armour, Rena looked to Forester with a focussed gaze. "So, what was all that about?"

"What was what about?" Forester returned a bewildered expression.

Rena rolled her eyes. "This afternoon, in the tavern. The three of you went real quiet after Alex mentioned something about an artefact."

Forester sighed. "Well, yes. I would say that… there are some ah… somewhat delicate matters, the kind best not discussed in a crowded tavern."

Rena's eyes narrowed. "We're not in the tavern now."

"Of course." Forester paused to clear his throat. "Well, about this time last year, you might recall that slightly unusual contract issued to the Guild? That open contract to locate and retrieve some unspecified Daedric artefact for the Synod?"

"Er… yeah, heard about it." Her tone indicated that hearing about it was about the full extent of her knowledge.

"Yes well, none of us were actively pursuing that. At the least, not intentionally anyway. At the time, we were actually working together to deal with a nest of vampires located to the south of Skingrad. That was where I lost my old helmet." He paused. He'd already told her that part of the story before.

Rena's expression indicated that she was listening, but couldn't yet tell exactly where he was going with what he was saying.

Forester continued. "Do you recall that day when we crossed paths at the ruins of Fort Istirus? You were there with Rolden and those Vigilants from Kvatch."

Rena returned a silent nod.

He resumed. "That was when that Dunmer fellow seemed to appear from nowhere and then disappeared just as quickly."

"Was that Suvaris?" Rena looked confused.

"No, no. He was someone else, a stranger from the north. As I said at the time, that was the first time that I'd become aware of him. I really had no idea who he was or where he'd come from. That altercation with those Vigilants was the first that I'd seen of him. At least, as far I knew. However, I'd later come to realise that he'd actually been following me. Quite possibly, for several days."

She shook her head lightly with narrowed eyes. "But, why?"

Forester cleared his throat again. "Well, it seemed that he knew certain things that none of us were at all aware of. As it happened, Belwen had carried that Daedric artefact with her as she escaped from Valenwood. Not that she actually knew what it was."

"So, what was it, that Daedric artefact?"

"Well, I believe that it was an artefact belonging to the Daedric Prince, Azura. It certainly fit the descriptions of Azura's Star."

Rena shook her head slightly. "Heard the name, but not about any star."

"No matter. Well, the short of it… when we came across Belwen and Ras'Dar near the Valenwood border, that artefact emitted some sort of magical burst, rendering all of us insensate. When that occurred, that Dunmer fellow took the artefact and ran off with it. I believe that he was actually after it right from the beginning. Somehow, he'd known that following me would lead him to it."

Rena's expression reflected some confusion as she digested that information.

Forester resumed. "With Ras'Dar's assistance, we managed to track the Dunmer to the Imperial City, but failed to find him."

Rena still looked slightly perplexed. "Is that it?"

Forester cleared his throat again. "Well, as far as we were concerned, yes. Of course after that, all of it became a matter for the Penitus Oculatus. None of us have any idea what might have passed after that. Still, I should think that it's fair to say that it shouldn't be a matter for any open discussion."

Rena shrugged. "Okay, then. I s'pose I can see that." She remained slightly annoyed that he'd not told her about any of that before. Perhaps more so, that even Ras'Dar knew more about it than she did. Still, she recognised the wisdom in avoiding attracting any unwanted attention from the Penitus Oculatus. She'd never previously had anything to do with them at all and she was quite contented to keep it that way.

After a brief silence, Maplewood shifted the topic of discussion. "Monika seemed real surprised, when I told her about us."

Forester affected a mild grin. "Did she? I suppose that we really should've said something before. Though I suppose, the opportunity had not really arisen."

"So, what did Alex say? About us?" Her expression reflected her curiosity.

He looked just a little uncomfortable. "Well, ah… it didn't actually come up." He paused a moment. "We ah… we only really spoke of the goblin threat, and of course, the gathering ahead of the response being organised to deal with that matter." He looked to her with an awkward expression.

Rena's silent expression served as sufficient prompting.

Forester sighed. "Well, truth be told, I didn't really have the heart to raise the issue with him."

Her raised eyebrows and persistent gaze demanded a proper explanation.

He sighed again. "You might recall, I told you about that conversation on the way back from Sentinel. Between Alex and myself. Aboard the Golden Drake."

"What conversation?"

He was quite certain that he'd told her before. Nonetheless, he composed himself and proceeded to relate those details again.

"Well, Alex had confided that he'd been hoping to formalise his circumstances with Monika. However, things were not exactly going as he'd hoped. He'd mentioned that he'd brought it up with her a few months before that time, but she'd remained… well, it would suffice to say that she wanted to keep things the way they were." He paused again. "After what had just come to pass in Wayrest, he'd been lamenting that certain circumstances did not seem to favour his expectations at that time." He shook his head. "I didn't really have anything useful to offer, other than to suggest that he just take things as they come."

Forester looked to her with an awkward grimace before continuing. "In either case, as much as I do appreciate our own good fortune, I didn't feel quite comfortable with boasting loudly of it this afternoon."

Rena's mild frown gradually gave way to a thoughtful smile. Though she'd completely forgotten all about it until just then, she did regain some vague recollection of having been told some of those things before. It wasn't the remembrance of those details that fuelled her smile. It was more about her understanding of why he'd chosen not to say anything to Alex. With all that in mind, she also came to see some of Monika's reactions and behaviour in a slightly different light. That provided her with something else to think about.

A short time later, they'd gone back downstairs to the tavern area. Neither of them had really been all that hungry, but they didn't want to leave the matter of an evening meal until later. They'd intended to just get something light to go with a mug of ale, with the plan to be in and out of the tavern area before the evening rush began to rise.

Those plans passed well enough, without incident. After attending to that, Forester and Maplewood headed directly back upstairs to their rented room to make an early night of it.

* * *

><p>Until the last of the fading light from the setting sun, Monika Northwind and Alex Pinewatch had passed the remainder of the afternoon out the back of the Fighters Guild outdoor training area.<p>

Of course, the primary reason behind all that archery training had been to ensure that Alex had the opportunity to master that new bow. By the end of it, he'd become far more confident of his aim along that slightly deceptive sight.

At the request of Montrose, Monika had also been overseeing the training of young Vinnus Odiil. Earlier, Catius had been training the younger lad with blade and shield, but he wasn't much of an expert when it came to archery.

Since they'd run out of daylight, Monika had finally called it a day. Vinnus headed back into the guildhall with the rest of the Guild Fighters. Alex and Monika gathered up their equipment and headed back across town for the Oak and Crosier.

By that time, the street vendors of the main plaza about the big oak tree had packed up for the day. Most of the people on the streets looked to be making their way for home. A few might have been headed for the inns and taverns of Chorrol. Lights were starting appear in the windows of homes and other structures. The lamplighters looked to be about half way through the task of lighting the street lamps. The moths were already starting to flock to the lampposts.

Arriving at the Oak and Crosier, it already a seemed bit rowdy inside the tavern. It wasn't too difficult to see why. Most of the noise was coming from one small group. Alex had taken their gear directly downstairs to their room as Monika looked to organising some food.

She approached the main service bar. "Hey, Thomas."

"Monika." The burly publican looked weary, but affected a friendly smile.

"It's getting loud in here already." Her comment reflected the obvious.

Thomas sighed. "Yeah, it was bit quieter earlier in the day, but that lot are starting to get warmed up again." He nodded in the general direction of Frederick the Loud and his other noisy cohorts. "If they weren't spending so much coin, Lyra would be pushing me to tell them to move on." The innkeeper's wife was toiling away in the kitchen area just behind the main bar with her head down.

Monika briefly pictured Thomas standing over the four unruly Nords and persuading them to move along. He was one of those big, dark and hairy Colovians. The kind of man that looked like he needed to shave twice a day to keep the stubble from his face. That was evident from the dark bristles currently darkening his features. On his head, there were just a few odd gray flecks here and there.

Monika briefly checked what options were on the menu for that evening and organised something for Alex and herself. As always, Thomas was happy to be of service to two of his most loyal and least troublesome customers.

The burly innkeeper did make a point of asking if she knew how long it would be before the Fighters Guild was supposed to be heading out on that goblin cull. Of course what he really wanted to know, was how long those unruly Nords from Bruma would be staying.

Monika seemed openly apologetic as she advised that it could still be another couple of days away. She suggested that they might be away for at least a week in the forest. She did also mention that she would be making sure that the rent was fully paid up before they headed off from Chorrol.

Thomas expected no different from them. Since Monika and Alex had effectively become permanent tenants, he generally kept that room available for them. Other than those rare occasions when they'd gone away for extended periods of time, he treated it as an ongoing rental. He even discounted the rate overall, with further discounts on the room when they were away for only a few days or so.

Alex returned from downstairs before their order was ready. He exchanged a friendly greeting with Thomas. They needed to wait for just a short while before their meals were provided. They could've waited at a table and Thomas would've called them over or brought it to them, but they waited by the bar instead. Another couple of locals came along and left with filled mugs before the barkeep provided their meals.

As Monika moved a few steps away from the main service bar, with her meal in hand, she began to think that it might have been better to remain there. All of the tables to one side of the tavern were occupied in some fashion. It appeared that all the free tables were only those nearest to the visiting Nords from Bruma.

She led Alex toward the table that seemed least obvious to the line of sight of the rowdy group and setting down their food and drink, they took to their seats.

A round of raucous laughter was punctuated by the noisy scaping of a chair's legs on the wooden floor. The largest Nord shifted to examine the couple that had just sat down to eat.

"My fellow Guild Fighters." Frederick boomed, raising his mug and looking directly at the pair through bleary eyes. His three companions took it to be a toast of some sort.

"Frederick." Monika acknowledged him more quietly. She knew him only casually from previous encounters. Alex knew him even less than that, having spoken to him to only once a few months back. Still, everyone in the Guild seemed to be aware of Frederick the Loud, even if they didn't really know him. He was difficult to miss and even harder to ignore.

Frederick stood up from his chair on somewhat unsteady legs. His light coloured mane seemed to merge with a lengthy beard of similar colour. He pointed toward Monika and Alex with his mug. "Ish good t'know that my fellow Nords sherve at Chorrol's guildhall." His slurred statement was punctuated by something halfway between a hiccup and a burp.

A drunken cheer of 'fellow Nords' came from the other three before they tossed back their mugs again in another toast.

Monika nodded politely. Of course, she wasn't exactly Nord, though she might have looked like it from first glance. Since her father had been an Imperialised Nord and her mother was an Altmer of the Empire, she wasn't exactly Breton either. She wasn't about to argue those distinctions with him.

After allowing himself to be briefly distracted by his excitable comrades, Frederick managed to refocus his attention toward Monika again. "Uh, it's Northwind, isn't it? Of coursh it is." He paused, making an effort to moderate his swaying. He probably couldn't recall Alex's name, only that he'd seen him before.

Monika's curt nod served as a response, though not necessarily any encouragement for him to continue. Alex took a mouthful of stew, but kept a wary eye open. He wasn't really expecting any sort of trouble, but he was slightly worried that the big Nord might fall over.

Frederick resumed. "You haffda ear of the Guild Marshter, I 'spect. Tell me, d'y'know when we'll be headin' offta clear up them nashty lil goblins?"

Monika finished chewing a mouthful before answering. "Well, we're still waiting on Guild Fighters coming from Skingrad and Cheydinhal, but soon. I reckon they oughta be here by tomorrow. So, you should probably report in over at the guildhall sometime tomorrow. After you've had some proper rest."

Frederick nodded thoughtfully. "Hmm, yesh. Tomorrow." After another lengthy pause, he suddenly jolted and widened his eyes. "Skingrad. That means I should see Forester. I haven't seen him in months."

Alex held his tongue, feigning greater interest in the meal in front of him.

Monika spoke evenly. "I expect you might see Forester at the guildhall tomorrow."

"Hmph, I s'pose I might at that." Frederick leaned forward slightly. "By Talos, that stew does smell worthy. Reminds me of my old mama's cooking."

Another cheer went up from Frederick's comrades in direct response to his comment. He cast an uncertain glance in their direction, not sure whether to take offence or not.

Frederick took a wobbly step backward. "I should let you eat that… while it's still hot."

Monika offered no argument, returning a friendly nod.

Frederick stumbled off in the general direction of the main bar. "Hot stew. Hot stew and ale." Even when he mumbled, he could be heard clearly across the noisy room.

Monika and Alex managed to finish their meals in relative peace. Those Nords from Bruma remained noisy, but mostly kept to themselves. Once Frederick had returned with a bowl of hot stew, one by one, the other three had risen from their chairs to make their way over to see the barkeep about getting more of the same.

Wary of becoming entangled in any further discussion with the drunken Nords, Alex and Monika made their way downstairs to the basement level as soon as they were done.

They soon made use of the bathrooms facilities at the end of the hall. After passing a fair part of the day in training, a good clean up was in order. Afterward, they retired to their room for the evening.

They tried to ignore the periodic din drifting down from the tavern above as they went about their evening rituals. Those activities involved putting away some of the washed clothing that had dried and hanging out their leather armour to air by the fireplace.

Monika took stock of the arrows that they had. Aside from those in her hip quiver and Alex's quiver that he wore across his back, they also had another two bundles that they intended to carry in their backpacks when headed off into the forest.

She gave voice to her conclusion. "I don't think we'll need any more arrows. I think we've probably got enough, so long as we don't break too many out there and don't lose too many."

Alex trusted her judgment. An unrelated thought crossed his mind. "Did you notice something different about Forester?"

Monika's eyes darted about before meeting his gaze. "Why? What did he say?"

Alex shrugged. "Nothing in particular. It just seemed to me that… that both Forester and Rena… something seemed different." He shrugged again, looking to her with an earnest expression. "You do not suppose that…?"

She looked away slightly, responding awkwardly. "Yeah… ah, well yeah."

Alex frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Well yeah, they're ah… they're together."

"Together?"

"Well yeah, Rena told me that they've been living together in Forester's house for months now… and then, just a few weeks ago… well, they ended up getting married."

Alex's stunned expression clearly telegraphed his disbelief. "Married?"

She frowned slightly with a crooked grin. "That was pretty much my reaction."

"I'd, I'd, I would never have expected…" Alex looked bewildered.

"Me neither." Monika shrugged. "I hope it works out for them." She shrugged again.

Alex nodded his agreement. His gaze seemed to briefly study her face. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but instead settled on something less. "Okay, then."

A silence fell between them for a while.

Without voicing any of his thoughts, Alex recalled that Forester had previously spoken of his former wife, if only very briefly. She was still around, but she'd left Skingrad and taken their son with her, moving to Kvatch. He hardest part of all that was that she wouldn't let Forester see his son. Alex hoped that Forester's second marriage would work out much better.

Of course, Alex knew that Monika also had something of a similar nature in her past, though there hadn't been any children involved. Even though she didn't really look any older than Alex, Monika was a good twenty years his senior. Her mother's Altmer blood made her appear to age far more slowly.

Unlike Alex's comparatively brief time as a farmer just outside Falkreath, she'd already lived quite a bit before relocating to Cyrodiil about ten years earlier. Before that time, she'd lived and worked with her family in Wayrest.

She'd left High Rock behind and returned to the place of her birth, the Imperial City, eventually abandoning the merchant trade for a life in the Fighters Guild. She'd already been a Guild Fighter for the better part of a decade by the time that Alex first met her.

It had been only shortly after they'd become lovers that Alex learned that Monika had been previously married. However, since she wouldn't speak of it, he hadn't known any more of it until that recent journey to Wayrest.

Up until just a few months ago, he'd reasonably suspected that her failed marriage probably played a big part in why she'd come to Cyrodiil, but he didn't really know any of the details. Even after Wayrest, he didn't know everything and he probably didn't really want to.

He'd learned some of it from her parents. Elwyn had told him a part of it and Nikulas spoke of some other parts. The short of it had been that when Monika was younger, she'd been unhappily married to an older Breton man in Wayrest. It turned out that he'd only really wanted her to produce children of stronger Altmer blood. That was evidently one of the main reasons behind why she'd left him. Alex didn't want to think about what the rest of it might be.

Before he'd passed, Nikulas had effectively given Alex his blessing. He'd mentioned that his daughter had always been stubborn, but told Alex that he should just hang in there.

Alex might have wanted to move forward with things, but he knew well enough that for the time being, he just had to settle for what Monika wanted and remain patient.

Monika held a fair idea of what Alex might have been thinking about, but chose not to speak of it. She broke the lengthy silence that passed. "Off to bed?"

"Okay."

They went about the room putting out the lights, before undressing and climbing into bed. It appeared that some of the noise from above had subsided just a little earlier than expected. That seemed an indication that the Nords from Bruma might have settled on an early end to their drunken revelry. Monika settled into a comfortable position, cradling Alex from behind and they'd both drifted off to sleep fairly quickly.

~O~


	5. Chapter 5

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 5

Tirdas the 28th of Hearthfire 4E49

Just like most mornings, Karl gro-Baroth was up before the dawn. As he'd left his own bunk behind, located directly beneath the office above, he'd noticed that all the bunks of the common area on the second level of the guildhall were fully occupied. Added to that, there were a couple of extra bodies wrapped in bedrolls on the floor. Since there were usually a few spare bunks at any given time, that probably meant that some of the people that he'd been expecting must have turned up.

He'd figured that they must've come in real late, since they weren't there when he'd retired to his bunk. He couldn't actually see who any of those additional persons were. They were just lumps under blankets. He knew that some Nords from Bruma had already arrived in town, but he thought they were still down the street at the Oak and Crosier. He was also expecting that those Guild Fighters from Skingrad and Cheydinhal ought to be turning up that day, or by Middas at the latest. He supposed that some of them might've turned up a bit early.

Karl figured that he'd learn all about the fresh arrivals soon enough. He continued onward to the main downstairs level of the guildhall to make use of the bathroom and kitchen facilities.

The Guild Porter, Dale Gavinus, had just arrived at the kitchen area as Karl was finishing up downstairs. They'd exchanged the usual courteous greeting before Karl made his way back upstairs for the office. He'd noticed that some of the bodies on the second level had begun to stir as he passed by. One of them was a Nord woman that he didn't immediately recognise. He couldn't place the younger Dunmer lad either.

Settling down behind by the heavy oak desk, the big Orc released a sigh as he cast his eye over the papers laid out in front of him. Nothing had actually changed since he'd called it a day the previous evening. His plans were effectively ready to go, as soon he know exactly how many people he had to work with.

He touched the left side of his face with mild annoyance and withdrew the razor from his pocket to examine it again. When he was downstairs using the bathroom facilities, he'd decided to shave the bristles from his face and managed to nick his cheek along the jaw-line.

He sighed again, concluding that the razor needed sharpening. He figured that he'd probably have to do it himself, since the guildhall still had no proper smith in residence. He knew he could probably get Henrik or Dale to sharpen it, but he didn't really trust either of them to do a good job.

After the last of the Guild Fighters had risen and gone downstairs, the porter had come back upstairs to open the windows and grumble about the mess on the second level. He wisely kept his grumbling mostly to himself, rather than taking it up directly with Karl. Dale took a moment to inform him that some Guild members from Cheydinhal had arrived the previous evening, then left to attend to other duties.

A short while passed by before anyone else came near the upper level of the guildhall. Through the open windows to his left, Karl could hear the cawing of a crow coming from somewhere outside. Though he knew it was a stupid thought, he imagined that it sounded like the bird was directly taunting him from afar.

Just as the bells of the chapel could be heard marking the hour of eight, a tall figure clad in expensive ebony armour came up the stairs toward the upper level. He had his ebony gauntlets tucked under his left arm. Of course, Karl recognised the gray-skinned Dark Elf immediately. His colouring appeared a slightly lighter shade of gray than some Dunmer. He was probably quite a few decades older than Karl, though it hardly showed. He stood just a little shorter than the big Orc. His frame appeared deceptively lean. A long and narrow nose came to a slight hook at the end. The points of his ears seemed just a little longer than the typical. A faded scar marked his left cheek just above his jaw line.

"Guild Master." The gaunt faced Dunmer tilted his head deferentially, arching his dark eyebrow. A subtle smile glistened in his blood red coloured eyes.

"Heh, Suvaris. Ya don't need ta go standin' on ceremony with me." The big Orc grinned broadly as he rose to take the Dunmer's hand in greeting.

Alaron Suvaris took his hand firmly. A tight smile formed on his lips. "Karl gro-Baroth. It's good to see you again."

"Yeah, likewise." Karl returned to his seat, gesturing for his visitor to do the same.

Suvaris took to a seat across the desk from Karl. "I do hope my arrival is timely."

"Yeah well, still waitin' on others."

The Dunmer titled his head, indicating his understanding. "When I heard what you were planning, I advised Vedran that it would be prudent for Cheydinhal to provide some support for this operation."

"Glad ya did. Reckon we could use the help."

Suvaris nodded slightly. "I recall the last time we did something like this. It must be a good twenty years."

"Yeah, 'bout that, from what I remember." Of course, Karl knew exactly just how long it had been, from digging up the old records to refresh his memory.

"I do apologise that I wasn't able to bring more Guild Fighters with me. My Guildhead only permitted me to bring along just three others."

"Just three?" Karl tried to mask any disappointment.

"Yes, there's just the four of us, I'm afraid. However, each of us should prove suited to the task ahead." He paused gesturing with his hands. "Leda, she is a sturdy Nord of some good experience. Griznak is a dependable Orcish warrior. Aldreth is a younger Dunmer of some promise. I've only recently taken him on as a recruit under my tutelage."

"Ya brought a recruit with ya?" Karl raised his bushy eyebrows.

Suvaris nodded solemnly. "I can assure that he's perfectly competent. He just needs some more experience to hone his skill and this seems like just the thing."

Karl nodded, accepting the wizened Dunmer's judgement. His gaze flickered down toward the second level. "Thought I saw more than four new arrivals down there."

The Dunmer titled his head again. "A couple of intoxicated Nords stumbled in just after our arrival. I'm not certain, but I thought that I'd recognised one of them from Bruma."

Karl waved it off. "Doesn't matter. Reckon I'll find out soon enough."

Responding to Suvaris' gentle prompt, Karl provided a broad outline of his plans. As the Dunmer had probably already anticipated, he intended to have the Guild Fighters break up into smaller teams to cover specific areas. He mentioned that the Legion would be covering parts of the forest further afield, but the Fighters Guild would be taking the main part of The Great Forest east of The Black Road. That included some of the most heavily wooded sections, as well the area about an old Ayleid ruin that was known to be serving as a goblin settlement.

Karl advised him that he intended to try to keep the people from each guildhall teamed up together, figuring that it was best that way. He also advised that some of the specifics were dependent upon exactly how many people he had to work with, but the general gist of it was fully mapped out.

Suvaris agreed that it all seemed like sound strategy.

Some further talk passed between them of notable recent events. As was generally the case, most of it related to Fighters Guild business and mutual acquaintances.

Suvaris did make mention of a few things around Cheydinhal. He'd noted the ongoing presence of the Vigilants of Stendarr stationed there. They continued to operate under the favour of the Count and still coordinated some of their activities with the Fighters Guild. He did suggest that he wouldn't like to see them operating without some measure of external influence. In his view, the Vigilants of Stendarr tended to bend more toward their own flavour of righteous fervour than what might be considered acceptable by others.

Karl expressed a general agreement with that assessment, though there wasn't a whole lot he could say or do about that lot. Count Hassildor might've banned them from County Skingrad, but most other places accepted them to some extent. The Vigilants of Stendarr didn't spend much time in Chorrol, but with the Chapel of Stendarr in town, some of them did seem to come and go from time to time. So long as they didn't cross any lines in an open fashion, they just had to be tolerated.

Only because it seemed pertinent, Suvaris also mentioned that he'd heard word of goblin colonies somewhere in the south of County Cheydinhal. He didn't think it was anything of great consequence at that time. Certainly not of the same significance of what had been reported throughout The Great Forest. As he understood it, the goblins in the south were said to be well east of the main roads and any settlements, and so, of no particular concern.

Exhausting the relevant topics of discussion, they ended with brief farewells and the Dunmer left the Guild Master in his office.

* * *

><p>Alaron Suvaris continued down toward the main level of the guildhall. He intended to find those other Guild Fighters in his charge and advise them of the current circumstances. He didn't quite make it that far. In response to the two Guild Fighters standing at the base of the staircase, he stopped on the lower steps, just short of the ground level.<p>

The Imperial man with the goatee beard beamed up at him with a broad and friendly grin. "Suvaris, my friend."

The Dunmer returned a restrained smile. "Forester. I was expecting to see you here."

Forester cleared his throat, extending his hand in greeting. "Yes, well. I'd also heard that you were coming along to participate in the task at hand."

As Suvaris took his friend's hand, he glanced to the Imperial woman by his side. His expression clearly indicated that he was unable to place her.

Forester cleared his throat again, then responded accordingly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I don't believe that you've met before. Alaron Suvaris, this is Rena Maplewood."

The Dunmer extended his pale gray hand toward the Imperial woman. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Maplewood took his hand. "Forester has told me about you."

Suvaris arched an eyebrow. "Only good things, I do hope."

"Yeah, pretty much." She nodded with a smile.

"Are you from the Skingrad guildhall?"

"Yeah, I am now. I use to work out of Kvatch."

Suvaris nodded slowly. "Ah, I see. Under Farrel and Merandil, then?" A subtle expression of curiosity crept across his face.

"Yeah, ah… yeah, I was good with the Fighters Guild, but ah… not so much with the Vigilants of Stendarr that we'd been working with. The ones based in Kvatch."

Without turning his head, the Dunmer shot a quick sideways glance toward Forester.

Forester shrugged lightly.

Rena responded first. "Forester mentioned that you have to deal with a similar sort of arrangement over in Cheydinhal. With the Vigilants of Stendarr. I s'pose they're a bit like the ones I had to put up with back in Kvatch? A pain in the arse to work with?"

Suvaris titled his head slightly in acceptance. "Yes, something like that, I would suppose. Still, I would rather that they cooperated with the Fighters Guild, rather than the alternative."

Maplewood wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I s'pose I can't argue with that. Still, I'd had more than enough of them. The ones I had deal with, they were all idiots."

"Yes, quite." Suvaris accepted the sentiment evenly.

Forester interjected, shifting the topic. "Have you come along with other Guild Fighters from Cheydinhal, or on your own?"

Suvaris looked to the Imperial man. "I was able to bring three others with me from my guildhall. Griznak, Leda and a younger Dunmer, currently under my instruction."

Forester nodded. He knew the Orc and the Nord woman from his relatively recent visit to Cheydinhal. "I suppose that Guildhead Vedran was not motivated to send more?"

"No, not really. My Guildhead does tend to hold to his own priorities and leaving the guildhall understaffed at any particular time does not sit well with him."

Forester nodded again, with a grimace. "Yes well, Guildhead Canne is sending everyone from our guildhall to participate in the planned operations."

Suvaris affected an expression of approval. "I would expect that should please our Guild Master."

Forester made that noise with his throat again. "Ahem. Yes well, we were actually just on our way upstairs to see Karl gro-Baroth."

The Dunmer glanced briefly between Forester and Maplewood. "Of course, do not allow me to delay you unnecessarily. I do need to go find my compatriots from Cheydinhal."

"Of course." Forester stepped to one side to grant clear passage. "I'm sure we'll have time to speak further."

"Of course." Suvaris agreed.

The Dunmer headed for the back doors of the guildhall as the other pair continued onward and up the staircase.

* * *

><p>Karl gro-Baroth noticed the movement of someone coming up the stairs toward the main office. He immediately recognised the Imperial man in the mithril armour. It took him just a moment longer to recall the woman at his side.<p>

Forester cleared his throat as he reached the big oak desk. "Guild Master. I do hope we're not interrupting?"

"Nah, ain't no problem. Been expectin' you lot. Take a seat."

The two Imperials did as he suggested.

Karl looked to each of them in turn. "Was expectin' to see Elynwen." He was referring to Canne's Bosmer second.

Forester responded to the implied question. "Yes well, Maplewood and myself have arrived ahead of the others. I expect that Elynwen should be here with the others some time later today or surely by tomorrow morning, at the very latest. Since we were already here, I thought we should report in."

The big Orc nodded with a grunt. "Fair enough."

Forester elaborated a little further. "Guildhead Canne is sending over everybody from the Skingrad guildhall, but herself, under the direction of Elynwen, of course."

"Yeah, figured as much." Karl paused to tick off a note on a sheet of parchment.

Rena spoke up. "So, what do you want us to do?"

Karl glanced to her. "Yeah well, until everyone turns up, I reckon you can pretty much suit yourselves. The guildhall's facilities are at your disposal, if ya need ta get in any trainin' or use the smithin' gear downstairs."

Forester nodded. "Do you have any idea when we'll need to be ready to head out?"

Karl rubbed an itch at the back of his baldpate. "Yeah well, providin' everyone is here, I wanna get everyone in the same place sometime tomorrow to outline the plan of attack. I'm hopin' to get everthin' in motion on Turdas and Fredas."

"Very good." Forester acknowledged.

Karl released a short sigh. His gaze flickered to each of the visitors in turn. "Yeah well, I reckon that's that, for now."

"Of course." Forester started to rise from his seat. His companion did the same.

The Guild Master returned a curt nod, then looked to Forester with a slight start. "Hey, ah… if ya see the Guild Porter, can ya send him up here?"

"Of course." Forester responded.

Forester and Maplewood continued on down the stairs headed for the lower level, leaving the big Orc sitting at his desk.

Karl glanced absently toward the open window. He was just thinking that he'd get the porter to set up some more bedrolls down in the basement training area. Otherwise, it would be way too crowded on the second level. The last thing anyone needed was for Guild Fighters tripping over each other and starting arguments or the like.

A dark flash of feathers sailed by the open window, catching his attention. It was obviously one of those crows. As long as they stayed outside, it didn't matter. He tried to return his mind to his paperwork as two crows held a noisy argument somewhere just out of view.

* * *

><p>After a brief encounter with Chorrol's Guild Porter, advising him that the Guild Master wanted to see him upstairs, Forester and Maplewood headed for the rear doors of the guildhall, making their way for the outdoor training area.<p>

Forester hadn't been so certain of the identities of those two Nords sitting about on the main level of the guildhall. He'd offered his thoughts to Rena, suggesting that they might have been some of Frederick's comrades from Bruma. He held a far better idea of most of those Guild Fighters about the outdoor training area.

Standing upon the back porch of the guildhall, he paused to mention some of them by name. He pointed out the Breton man that served as Karl's second, Francois Montrose. He appeared to be directing the training of young Vinnus Odiil. Forester mentioned that the lad's family came from the Odiil Farms settlement located just a few leagues down the road. That was the main reason that he'd recalled the lad. Added to that, Alex had made mention of him a number of times.

The Imperial and Nord sparring nearby were vaguely familiar to him. He was quite certain that the Imperial man's name was Catius. He wasn't sure whether the Nord was called Hanrik or Henrik. Though he'd seen the man in passing more than once, he didn't really know him at all. Added to that, Forester did have a tendency to be rather terrible with certain names, unless it was a name that stood out to him, or he knew the person well enough.

Over toward the right of where they stood, Suvaris looked to be engaged in the instruction of that younger Dunmer that he'd mentioned a little earlier. Forester pointed to the large Orc and tall Nord woman that sparred just on the other side of the two Dunmer. He told Rena that both Griznak and Leda were from the Cheydinhal guildhall. He'd only worked with them that one time, about a year or so back. It had been just a simple task to deal with ogres threatening farmer's wagons near Cheydinhal.

Over to the left hand side, Monika and Alex appeared to be working upon their archery skills again. By Forester's estimate, he'd thought both of them to be rather proficient in that regard. At the least, that's what he'd previously observed on those occasions that they'd worked together. However, a quick look at the targets set up by the stone wall, seemed to tell a slightly different story.

The target that Alex had been firing toward looked to have a rather wide spread of arrows embedded, with just a couple lying on the ground that seemed to have missed it altogether. Judging from the broad placement of strikes upon Monika's target, it seemed that his unsteady performance had some sort of reciprocal effect upon her own.

Maplewood nudged Forester with her elbow. "Should we?"

He looked to her with raised eyebrows. "Yes?"

"Go see Monika and Alex? Maybe, get in a bit of training?"

"Yes, of course." Forester nodded with a mild smile.

The pair of Imperials stepped down from the porch and made their way over toward where Northwind and Pinewatch were firing at their practice targets.

At their approach, Forester cleared his throat, announcing his presence. "Good morning to you both." Though it was still morning, it seemed to be near to passing the midway mark, heading toward noon.

"Morning." Monika returned the greeting, without turning her head. She released another arrow toward the target. It landed just a hand's width from the centre.

"Good morning." Alex glanced briefly toward the pair, before returning his focus to the task. He also unleashed an arrow. The strike landed perhaps slightly more than one and a half hand's width from centre.

Rena spoke up. "How long have you been at it?"

Monika fired off another shot, then lowered her bow and turned about to face her directly. "More than an hour or so." She glanced to Alex, watching him take another shot. It landed near the centre of the target.

Forester cleared his throat again. "You seem to be gaining the measure of it." His comment was evidently directed toward Alex.

Alex shrugged slightly. "This bow does not seem ah… well, not quite like my old one, but I am getting used to it. Mostly."

Monika took a step toward Forester and Maplewood. "Have the others turned up from Skingrad yet?"

Rena wrinkled her nose, returning a shrug. "Haven't seen them yet. Oughta be here sometime today. Looks like some others turned up last night." She glanced over toward Suvaris, then back to Forester.

Forester nodded, then looked to Monika. "Well, you've said that Bruma's people are already here and Suvaris arrived with his comrades from Cheydinhal just last night. As soon as our own compatriots from Skingrad are here, I suspect that should be everyone."

Alex had stopped what he was doing to listen in.

Monika spoke again. "Are you two planning on getting some training in?"

"Might as well." Rena responded, shooting another quick glance to Forester.

"Yes, of course." Forester paused. He looked to Alex. "Perhaps, we might take the opportunity to mix things up somewhat?"

Monika frowned. "Like what?"

Forester nodded his head toward the other equipment lying on the ground. "Yes well, I was just thinking that I might take the opportunity to show Alex a few different things with bladed combat."

Monika narrowed her eyes, seemingly wondering exactly what he meant.

Rena spoke up, addressing Monika directly. "I wouldn't mind a bit of a work-out to sharpen my skill. Blade and shield against mace and shield?"

Alex offered his opinion. "I could do with a break from archery."

Monika nodded, releasing a short sigh. "Yeah, sounds like a good idea, I s'pose."

That brightened Alex's disposition notably. "I will just go retrieve the arrows." He dashed off with an obvious bounce in his step.

Rena looked to Monika as she set down her bow. The Imperial woman took hold of her shield, shifting it into place and drawing her steel blade. "Should we move over this way a bit, where there's more space?"

"Yeah." Monika took up her shield and light mace, then followed her over to the side.

"Nice day for it." Rena passed the comment, glancing up to the light wispy clouds drifting across the otherwise clear blue skies. It was a warm day for autumn, but not really hot.

"Yeah. You wanna swap weapons?" Monika suggested.

Rena shook her head, with a smile. "Nah. I can handle a mace like that, but I'm much better with a sword."

Monika returned a grin. "Yeah, same with me, but the other way around."

Alex returned from collecting the arrows from the targets and quickly dropped the bundle on the ground by his discarded quiver. He picked up his shield and elven sword, looking to Forester with an enthusiastic expression. "Should I be using my shield?"

Forester didn't rely upon a shield. He drew his sword of fine Colovian steel and his long dagger of ebony with a grin. He chuckled mildly. "Heh-heh, of course you should. That's exactly the kind of thing that I wanted show you."

Alex's expression reflected a mild confusion.

Forester elaborated. "I wanted to show you a few things that you should know about facing an opponent with two blades."

Alex looked slightly sceptical. "I have faced bandits that fight like that before. Holding a shield seems to be quite an advantage."

Forester grinned broadly. "Well, I suppose that you might think so. However, a skilled opponent who truly understands the strengths and weaknesses of utilising dual blades might well surprise you. Allow me to demonstrate."

In a relatively slow and measured fashion, Forester proceeded to demonstrate the ways that two blades could be used to effectively block various attacks. He also illustrated how such a thing could be utilised to exploit certain weaknesses of an opponent with blade and shield. He pointed out how the reliance upon shield blocking could lead to some measure of overconfidence, making that second blade a potentially dangerous concern.

Alex was mildly surprised by some of what his friend showed him. He came to realise that those few opponents wielding twin blades that he'd previously faced mustn't have been nearly so skilled.

Monika and Rena continued their own sparring session just nearby. Though the movements hadn't appeared terribly swift, the noise of clashing shields indicated some measure of applied force.

That training and sparring continued as the sun slowly drifted across the mostly clear skies, rising toward its apex.

~O~


	6. Chapter 6

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 6

Tirdas the 28th of Hearthfire 4E49 Afternoon

Karl gro-Baroth released a heavy sigh. Looking to the open window over to his left, he'd noticed that it had gone past noon. The noises coming from the plaza below told him that people were out and about on the streets, going about the usual midday activities. That distant murmur was nothing like what he'd just endured over the past half-hour or so.

The Guild Master had just experienced the dubious pleasure of a noisy visit from Frederick the Loud. The boisterous Nord Guild Fighter had been seated barely more than two arm's length away, but his every word seemed to boom as though he felt that he needed to be heard by everyone in the guildhall, and quite possibly those out on the street.

Of course, none of that was really anything so unusual or unexpected. After all, he wasn't known as Frederick the Loud without good reason. Karl had experienced the noisy Nord up close like that many a time before, only not so often and not so recently.

The big Orc had last seen him briefly at Kvatch, just a few months before. Frederick had been returning from visiting his cousin in Anvil just as Karl was passing through that place on his way westward to that same location.

Of course, the Guild Master had been fully expecting that Frederick the Loud would be among those Guild Fighters sent from Bruma. However, he'd also been expecting a few more of them. He'd been hoping for at least six, including Guildhead Guillard's second.

Frederick had advised him that only four Guild Fighters had come over from Bruma's guildhall, along with sincere apologies from his Guildhead. He'd informed Karl that Guillard had needed to send others off to deal with an urgent issue at Applewatch in the north.

Karl was slightly disappointed and annoyed, but there was nothing to be done about it. Bad luck just couldn't be helped. He'd just have to deal with it. Still, since Suvaris had come along with three Guild Fighters from Cheydinhal, it evened out well enough.

At the risk of provoking fate, Karl quietly hoped that Guildhead Canne wouldn't renege on her promise to send over all her people from Skingrad. So long as he had all of Skingrad's Guild Fighters, everything would still match up with his outlined plan of action.

Karl heard some banging noises coming from directly below. That was followed by the sound of a slamming door and some subdued grumbling. He knew exactly what it was all about. He'd tasked the Guild Porter with digging out some bedroll bunks from the storage tower to be taken downstairs and set up down in the basement training area.

It suddenly occurred to him that he'd noticed how Dale Gavinus had been grumbling a fair bit lately. Even though he'd been keeping directed complaints to a minimum, it seemed like a sign that the porter was losing his patience with certain things. He'd always been a bit uptight and obsessively orderly, but not so much of complainer. That seemed like something that Karl might need to sort out sooner or later. He put that aside for the moment and returned to the documents and maps laid out across his desk.

* * *

><p>Malcolm Forester had passed the last couple of hours imparting some his experience with the techniques of dual wielded blades as he trained with Alex Pinewatch.<p>

Just nearby, Monika Northwind had been sparring with Rena Maplewood in a sporadic fashion, occasionally pausing to offer some suggestions from the sidelines. The two women appeared fairly equally matched. It didn't seem that either was really learning anything new, but both seemed to be enjoying the work-out.

Alex was actually learning quite a bit from Forester. After demonstrating the many ways that a skilled dual wielding opponent might exploit the weaknesses of a combatant using a sword and shield, Forester had then worked on showing him some of the best methods to undermine the twin bladed attack.

"My fellow Guild Fighters." That resounding greeting served to announce the presence of Frederick the Loud to everyone within earshot.

Several heads turned in the direction of the rear porch of the guildhall where the large Nord paused before descending the steps. More than a few of the Guild Fighters spread out across the outdoor training area knew Frederick the Loud. Some knew him well enough to call him friend or comrade, some others less so. Nonetheless, it was fair to say that nearly all of them at least knew of him by reputation.

"Forester, my friend." That declaration announced Frederick's immediate focus.

Forester stopped what he was doing, taking a step away from Alex and lowering his blades. He turned about and sheathed his weapons, fully prepared to take things in stride. A friendly grin emerged from his dark goatee beard. "Frederick, it's good to see you again."

An even broader grin parted the fair coloured beard of the large Nord. They locked arms in greeting. "It's good to see you too, my friend. It's been a while."

Forester cleared his throat. "No more than just a few months, I'm sure."

"Really? Seems like much longer. Perhaps, I was drunk the last time?" Frederick laughed loudly at his own comment.

From Forester's recollection, Frederick had been somewhat inebriated that last time he'd seen him in Skingrad, but surely not so drunken that he'd forgotten the encounter. "If I recall correctly, you'd mentioned that you intended to dispose of that ring of stealth. The one that you'd acquired last year."

Frederick gestured with his hands, displaying that he wore no rings. "Phtt. Stealth ring. That thing was less than useless… and I'd easily given it more than a fair chance."

Forester had tried to tell him that the magic of the ring could only muffle noises somewhat and that it was not likely to do much more than that.

Frederick continued. "I traded that stealth ring for something else, but that didn't work out so well either."

Forester raised his eyebrows in silent question.

"Gauntlets of Terror. That's what they were called. They were meant to bring fear to nearby opponents." He paused with a wide-eyed expression.

"Did they work as intended?" Forester prompted.

The big Nord looked downward, shaking his head. "Oh, they worked all right. I'd say they worked far too well, for my liking. Far too often, I found myself needing to run after my opponents." He patted his ample belly. "I'm not built for chasing after rabbits. I prefer my foes to stand and fight." He paused with a frown. "They weren't much good when I was working on my own and even worse when I worked with others at my side. I'm certain that those fear gauntlets were unnerving my own comrades."

"Well, that does sound troublesome." Forester agreed.

"Most troublesome." Frederick boomed, shaking his head again. "I needed to get rid of those things. I traded them for this." He pulled at the chain about his neck, revealing a tarnished ornate medallion.

Forester squinted at the object. It didn't appear particularly remarkable.

Frederick elaborated. "This is an amulet of might. It's enchanted to provide the wearer with increased strength and endurance." He paused with a broad grin. "Now, that's the only kind of magic that a proper Nord warrior should ever turn to."

Forester reflected his friend's grin and cleared his throat. "Ahem, yes well, I should think that none could argue with that."

Alex had remained perfectly quiet during that exchange, doing his very best to keep well out of it. Monika and Rena continued with their sparring. Obviously, both of them were also trying to avoid attracting the direct attention of the noisy Nord.

Forester glanced about, noticing that most everyone else appeared dutifully engaged in training of one sort or another. "So Frederick, are you here to train?"

Frederick's lower lip quivered as he blinked in mock surprise. "Train? A Nord warrior is always ready. I merely await the call to action." A broad smile emerged once again.

Forester responded with a mild smile of his own. "Yes, of course. As I understand it, we're only waiting on the rest of my comrades to arrive from Skingrad. I expect that they that should be here sometime today. I also imagine that the Guild Master should be calling us together sometime tomorrow in preparation for setting us to task."

"By the Divines, I can hardly wait to put down some more goblins. We faced some of them in County Bruma just recently. There were some causing trouble at Bleaker's Way and then some more were stealing sheep from Aleswell."

"Yes well, I'd heard something of that. We've also faced a number of similar problems around Skingrad over the past few months."

"I would think that there'll be a lot less of that after we're done." Frederick paused to glance about at the other Guild Fighters training outside. "Ah, look at that. I see that even Suvaris has joined us."

"Yes, he's brought some Guild Fighters from Cheydinhal."

Frederick grinned. "Well then, those goblins don't stand a chance." He unleashed another raucous belly laugh, slapping his friend on the shoulder.

Forester staggered just slightly from the unexpected and boisterous pat on the shoulder. "No, I don't suppose that they do."

Frederick's glance flickered toward the far side of the training area a couple of times then back toward Forester. "I should go speak with Suvaris. I'd say it's been even longer since I've seen him."

"Of course." Forester offered no objection.

Frederick turned and headed off. His voice rang out loudly. "Suvaris, my friend."

Alex quietly stepped up beside Forester. "Is there any more that you would like to show me?"

Forester turned about with a mild smile and cleared his throat. "Yes, I should think there's some more I could share." He stole a quick glance toward Frederick and Suvaris. "I suspect that the training of Suvaris' younger friend is about to be disrupted for a while, but that shouldn't directly affect us."

The shields of Monika and Rena clashed with a loud thud. That was followed by a brief moment of shared laughter as the two women stepped back from one another.

Rena called out to her husband. "Did you show him that thing where you make him get his sword caught behind his shield?"

Forester unsheathed his blades again. "Yes well, I was working my way toward that."

Alex looked a bit alarmed as he took up a defensive position.

Rena added another suggestion, directed toward Alex. "Just watch out for that hand with the long dagger."

"Keep a watch out for both hands." Monika added her own advice.

Rena looked back to Monika, adjusting her stance. "Heh, lemme show you something I picked up from him. This move might surprise you."

Monika returned a curious expression as she adjusted her own stance.

Forester and Alex resumed their training as Monika and Rena did the same. Over the far side of the training area, Suvaris maintained a polite demeanour in discussion with Frederick. The younger Dunmer lad appeared drawn into it as well. It seemed that Frederick was curious over why Suvaris had taken him under his wing. Only one side of the conversation was clearly audible from any distance.

A few moments later, some other noise threatened to outdo Frederick the Loud. A seemingly heated discussion arose between Henrik and Catius. It seemed enough to draw the direct attention of Francois Montrose.

The Breton second-in-charge dismissed young Vinnus Odiil and Janus Loran from training, presumably sending them off for a meal break or the like. Montrose then came over to those other two to mediate any potential trouble. Of course as usual, it had been about nothing of consequence and Montrose managed to settle them easily enough.

A short while later, as Frederick continued to do the rounds of striking up conversations with old acquaintances, Monika, Alex, Rena and Forester took a break from training. They quietly slipped away and headed back inside the guildhall for a brief rest out of the sun and to get something to drink.

* * *

><p>Before too long, Forester and company had emerged from the guildhall again, returning to the outdoor training area out the back of the building.<p>

It seemed that Frederick the Loud remained true to his word, showing no interest in any training. Instead, he'd continued doing the rounds, engaging with anyone prepared to talk to him for any length of time.

Before the four Guild Fighters had the opportunity to look at resuming the previous training arrangement, Montrose had called over to Monika. The Breton second persuaded her to oversee the further archery training of Odiil and Loran. She agreed it was good idea, since it would most likely be the last opportunity for that before everyone would be heading out.

Alex figured that he was probably meant to be included in that. He wasn't immediately thrilled over returning to the bow, but he knew that it would be better if he did.

Forester and Maplewood offered passing farewells, then headed over to rescue Alaron Suvaris from yet another return visit from Frederick. It seemed that the older Dunmer had passed his younger charge over to Griznak to train with a larger opponent wielding a heavy weapon. Evidently, Frederick had viewed that as another good opportunity to resume discussions with Suvaris.

A brief conversation passed. Most of it was dominated by Frederick and passing mention of things that involved his boasting of his feats of strength.

Before long, the rowdy Nord had started telling the story of the time that he'd successfully defeated two frost trolls, single handedly, as he escorted a trade wagon through Pale Pass in the Jerall Mountains.

Forester had heard a version of that story before. He suspected that Suvaris had probably heard it also. Rena was the only one that wouldn't have previously heard it and her expression seemed to convey the impression that she imagined there was some measure of exaggeration to the story. That tale was soon interrupted by a different noise.

A rowdy outburst suddenly erupted between two Nords. Forester wasn't certain of their names, but he thought that he recognised them as comrades of Frederick from Bruma.

"Rolf, Hans, enough." Frederick boomed with a distinct tone of authority.

The two Nords abruptly stepped back from one another and turned to look to Frederick. Of course, all the Guild Fighters outside had heard Frederick. Several heads turned to see what was going on.

Forester imagined that it was possible that those inside the guildhall had heard. He realised why he couldn't recall at least one of their names. There were more than a few Nords by the name of Hans. It must have been one of the most common names for a male Nord. Since most Nords held to no family names, that made it even harder to recall. At least, that's how Forester viewed it.

Frederick shook his head with an annoyed expression. He seemed to have forgotten about his story. He released a heavy sigh. "Bloody Divines, it seems I must go speak with those two again. They managed to get themselves tossed out of the tavern last night."

"It would be wise to encourage more orderly conduct." Suvaris spoke evenly.

Forester and Maplewood exchanged a brief glance, but remained silent.

Frederick grumbled unintelligibly as he stomped over toward his comrades.

Suvaris looked to the other two with a dry expression. "I do hope that he makes some effort to convince his people to ease up on the ale this evening."

Rena snickered. "Yeah well, they are Nords, from Bruma. Not so big on moderate drinking. At least, a lot of the ones I've met."

With a grimace, Forester cleared his throat. "Yes, quite."

Suvaris maintained a sober expression. "I try to discourage that sort of thing with my people. At least, when there's work to be done."

Forester spoke again. "Yes well, I imagine that the work won't be starting for another day or two. Nonetheless, I do agree with the sentiment."

Maplewood took the opportunity to raise something she'd suggested to Forester just before. "We're staying over at the Arborwatch Tavern. Why don't you come join us for an evening meal?"

Suvaris looked briefly to Forester with slight curiosity.

Forester added his voice. "Yes, we were thinking that it would be an excellent opportunity to just sit down and catch up. Perhaps the only such opportunity before we're all put to task."

The Dunmer tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Yes, that does sound agreeable."

Forester returned a slight smile. "Good, good. We were not planning a late evening at all. In fact, we were intending to take a meal quite early. At perhaps five? Before the evening rush comes along."

After a short pause, the Dunmer nodded. "Yes, that sounds perfectly reasonable." He cast a brief glance in the direction of Griznak and the younger Dunmer.

Rena nudged Forester with her elbow.

Forester spoke again. "Yes, you should bring along your young charge, if you like."

Suvaris arched an eyebrow, taking that suggestion as an indication that nothing particularly contentious might be discussed. "Yes, perhaps."

Forester went on to make some mention of recent encounters with goblins over the past few months. At one point, Rena took a moment to dash over toward Monika to invite those other two to join them at the Arborwatch.

However, Monika seemed somewhat reluctant. She'd indicated that after training was done for the day, they might be more likely to head straight back to the Oak and Crosier for an early night. Rena didn't apply too much pressure, only suggesting that the offer remained open.

By the time that the sun was falling lower in the western sky, Forester and Maplewood headed off for the Arborwatch to clean up before dinner in the tavern. Suvaris had indicated that he would join them inside the hour.

Several other Guild Fighters were still involved with training. One obvious exception was Frederick the Loud, though he had shifted tack just slightly, taking to offering some advice to those that were actually training. Some took that advice somewhat better than others.

~O~


	7. Chapter 7

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 7

Tirdas the 28th of Hearthfire 4E49 Evening

After cleaning up and shedding their armour for plain clothing, Forester and Maplewood came downstairs to the main tavern area of the Arborwatch. They quickly found Alaron Suvaris sitting at a table with his younger Dunmer recruit.

Though they'd left their weapons behind, both of the Dark Elves were still wearing their armour. Suvaris wore that expensive ensemble of ebony. The younger Dunmer's armour was something of more modest value. It looked to be a customised chainmail outfit with some steel plating added in strategic places.

Suvaris' companion seemed young, but that might have been a misleading assumption, given that he was Dunmer. He was slightly shorter than Suvaris and his colouring was a darker shade of gray. Of course, his eyes were the typical blood-red colour of pretty much all his people. Like the older Dark Elf, he wore his dark hair cropped short.

Sizing up the younger Dunmer, Forester spoke first. "Ah Suvaris, my friend, I see that you've brought your comrade along, as suggested."

Suvaris tilted his head in acknowledgment. "Allow me to make the proper introductions. Arvon Aldreth, this is Forester and ah, Maplewood, from Skingrad's guildhall."

Forester took the younger Dunmer's hand in greeting, making mental note of his name and still seemingly taking his measure.

"Forester." Aldreth repeated the name with a respectful nod. "Maplewood." He said her name also, as he took her hand.

"You can call me Rena." The Imperial woman affected a friendly smile.

"Rena." He repeated her first name with another courteous nod.

Forester leaned casually on a chair, without actually taking it to it. He looked toward the main service bar. "I suppose that we should go look into acquiring food and drink, before the activity becomes busy in here."

Suvaris and Aldreth responded by immediately rising from their seats.

Rena pulled out a chair. "I'll stay right here and mind the table." She looked to Forester with a mild smile. "You know what I'll like."

Forester returned a similar smile with a short nod. "Of course."

Maplewood sat down as the three men left for the service bar of the tavern. She glanced toward the front door and briefly wondered whether Monika and Alex might be joining them. Given Monika's tone, she suspected that they wouldn't, but still held to some passing hope that she might change her mind or that Alex might persuade her.

After a short while, the three men returned with meals and beverages. Forester passed a hot bowl and mug of ale to Rena, before taking a seat at the table. Responding to her curious glance, he advised her that it was a lamb and vegetable stew with some sort of mix of spices. It seemed that everyone had ordered the same thing, though Suvaris had opted for wine instead of ale.

To begin with, it seemed that eating took immediate precedence over any conversation. That kind of thing was fairly typical after a lengthy training session. Rena, Aldreth and Suvaris made short work of their meals.

As was often the case, Forester appeared to be tackling his stew more slowly, pausing several times to sip at his ale. More than once, he'd stopped to take a deep breath and comment that the mix of spices held a little more bite than he'd anticipated.

Maplewood was hardly surprised by his fussy eating habits. Nevertheless, she responded by insisting that the stew wasn't really all that spicy, prompting him to finish it before it grew cold.

Relying heavily upon his ale, Forester quietly acquiesced and continued to work his way though the meal with an absence of further comment.

Still waiting for Forester to finish his meal, Rena looked to Suvaris' comrade with a curious expression. "So ah, Arvon, you're from Cheydinhal?"

"That's right. My immediate family is from there." His accent sounded rather more typical of a Cyrodilic Imperial than that of his superior. Suvaris' accent indicated that he must have lived a number of years somewhere in Morrowind, before coming to the Imperial province.

Rena shifted her glance to Suvaris. She was no expert on Morrowind accents. She had no idea what part of that land he might have hailed from. "You're not from Cheydinhal, I mean not originally?"

The older Dunmer affect a wry smile. "No, not originally. I was originally born in the homeland of my people. I came to Cheydinhal a number of decades ago, after the troubles in the east." His tone indicated that he didn't really care to elaborate upon the last part.

If only broadly, Rena understood that a lot of Dark Elves must have died when Red Mountain erupted. A great many Dunmer would have also perished during the Argonian invasion not that long afterward. Her gaze flickered between the two gray-skinned faces trying to discern any obvious connection beyond their race. "Are you two related at all?"

Suvaris raised a dark eyebrow, then shook his head slightly. "No, no, I am an acquaintance of Arvon's father, Varon. He's a guard serving in Cheydinhal's city watch. He has been for a great many years. In fact, since the time of Count Indarys, and Varon now serves the current Count in the same capacity."

Aldreth added some more. "I had been intending to look toward following in my father's footsteps." He shot a glance toward his mentor. "At least, that was until this opportunity arose."

Rena took a sip of her ale, digesting that information. She did know that County Cheydinhal had been the only part of Cyrodiil under the stewardship of a Dunmer family. At least, until fairly recently. That circumstance ended with the demise of the Indarys line. Though that new Count was an Imperial noble, Forester had told her that at least half the people of Cheydinhal were Dunmer.

Forester had finally finished his meal. After taking another quick sip of ale, he spoke up with a slight frown. "Aldreth. Isn't that the name of a prominent family of Morrowind?"

Arvon returned a perplexed expression.

Suvaris interjected. "You might be thinking of Andrethi. A name of some station within House Telvanni."

Forester nodded. "Ah, my mistake. They do sound somewhat similar." He returned his gaze to Arvon. "So, tell me Aldreth, have you had the opportunity to deal with any goblins before?"

"Well no, not yet. I've faced ogres and trolls, and of course wolves. We've also had to deal with a few rogue bandits on the roads around Cheydinhal. That was just last month, but no. No goblins."

Forester glanced to Suvaris with a silent expression.

The older Dunmer responded. "We've not encountered any goblins in the populated areas of County Cheydinhal in recent time. There's been word of goblin tribes in the wilds of the south-east, but nothing of immediate concern."

Forester nodded and cleared his throat, looking back to the younger Dunmer. "Well Aldreth, you might find the goblins to be a little different from what you've faced previously."

Arvon's gaze flickered briefly about the other faces at the table, without actually forming a spoken question.

Forester resumed. "Well, I should think that an individual ogre or troll might be more dangerous than a single goblin. However, goblins are often encountered in groups and collectively, they can be most formidable opponents."

Rena chimed in. "Yeah, they sure can."

Forester went on to elaborate further. He laboured upon one point in particular. He suggested that although goblins were hardly as smart as the civilised races of Tamriel, they were not nearly as dim as ogres, trolls, or other simple-minded creatures of the wilds.

He pointed out that the goblins did actually live in tribal groups. He suggested that it was something resembling a structured society of sorts, albeit only a primitive kind of thing.

In Forester's estimation, goblins seemed as though they were addled-minded creatures that somehow failed to rise up to the measure of what might be considered a proper race of developed intelligence, like men or mer, or the Khajiit and Argonians.

He also noted that goblins would fight with a broad range of weapons scavenged from men or mer, even bow and arrow. Though some wore no more than simple loincloth or fur, he'd seen some that wore scavenged armour or crudely fashioned approximations of the same.

Suvaris commented that he'd heard some talk of the belief that the original goblins might have had something to do with the Daedric Prince Malacath, either directly or indirectly. Though he conceded that he didn't truly know whether that notion held any truth.

It was fairly common knowledge that another Daedric Prince played a part in the origin of the Orcs during ancient times. However, no one seemed to know exactly where the goblins came from. Some historians suggest that goblins were about even before the first Aldmer spread out across Tamriel.

Trying to draw things back to more relevant detail, Maplewood pointed out that the goblins that they'd recently faced seemed to come in fairly varied size. Some of them stood nearly as tall as ogres. Some others were barely more than half the height of a human and many varied in size between those two extremes. By her measure, she thought that all of them proved fairly dangerous, just some more than others.

Prompted by Rena, Forester went on to tell Arvon of the goblin shamans. He'd mentioned that they'd only encountered just the one among those that they'd recently dealt with in the vicinity of Skingrad. He added that it was fortunate that it was not one of the older and more powerful kind.

Becoming slightly sidetracked, he also added that they'd encountered more of those larger warlord goblins leading those groups that they'd fought. He suggested that those warlords were notably formidable and resilient, and should not be underestimated. It was never a wise idea to take one on without suitable support.

Returning to the matter of goblin shamans, Forester explained that those particular goblins were typically larger and more intelligent than some other types and that they held some crude mastery of dangerous destruction magic.

That particular detail surprised young Aldreth. He mentioned that he thought that goblins had to be far too primitive to have any meaningful ability to wield magicka.

Forester suggested that he believed it to be something inherent in their make up. He also noted that only those rare and exceptional goblins that became shamans seemed to have such power.

That talk of goblins went on for a short while longer. It was mostly for the benefit of Arvon, since the others already knew what to expect.

At some point, Suvaris seemed slightly taken aback by the unusual shift of topic.

Rena asked the question. "So Alaron, you don't have a wife back in Cheydinhal?"

"Well, no. It's not really been a matter of interest or opportunity. At least not at this time." The Dunmer finished off the last of his wine, with a tight-lipped expression.

Forester shot Rena a quick glance. It seemed a gentle warning not to press the matter any further. Though they'd not spoken of it directly, he'd always suspected that the Dunmer might have lost someone back in Morrowind, before coming to Cyrodiil. He cleared his throat. "I think that what Rena might be edging toward, is the news that the both of us have only recently become married."

Suvaris looked back with raised eyebrows. "Then, I should offer my congratulations and goodwill." He was actually aware that Forester had a wife and child before joining the Fighters Guild. He was also aware that the marriage had not ended by his choosing, though he was not privy to all the sordid detail.

Arvon had remained slightly bewildered by the brief exchange. He seemed to realise that he was probably missing several things that remained unspoken. Nevertheless, he made no effort to pry beyond what was openly offered.

Suvaris did choose to raise one thing. "I take it that Guildhead Canne holds no issue with that arrangement?"

Forester responded. "No, no. Canne is perfectly fine with it. I suspect that she views it as good reason for the both of us to remain with the guildhall at Skingrad."

Rena affected a wry smirk. "I was planning to stay in Skingrad anyway. Just this way, I get to live in a proper house."

Forester returned a wide-eyed expression of mock surprise. "Is that so?"

She jabbed him lightly with her elbow. "The house isn't that special, but the company is good enough to keep me there." She finished off her ale with a mischievous glint in her eye.

Some further idle conversation passed between the Guild Fighters as the tavern continued to become noticeably busier. Though everyone had emptied their mugs, Suvaris had declined the suggestion to acquire another round of drinks, citing a preference for moderation. Arvon had dutifully followed the lead of his mentor.

Before too long, Suvaris declared the intent to head back to the guildhall for the evening. After brief farewells, the Dunmer were on their way.

Accordingly, since the two Dark Elves were leaving, Forester and Maplewood also decided to retire to their upstairs room at the Arborwatch for the evening. Though it was still fairly early, Rena drew the reasonable conclusion that Monika and Alex wouldn't be coming to the tavern.

* * *

><p>Karl gro-Baroth noticed that it was starting to get dark outside. Since he'd pretty much sorted out everything he intended to have sorted, he'd decided to call it a day and look at getting something into his belly. He got up and closed the window over to his left, then started heading downstairs.<p>

He'd been expecting things to be a fair bit noisier downstairs than normal. Given that Frederick had settled in with those other three Nords he'd brought over from Bruma, those expectations were easily met. He planned to give that lot a wide berth, if it was at all possible.

The Guild Porter intercepted the big Orc before he'd made it to the bottom of the stairs. From the flustered look on Dale's face, he'd figured on hearing something that he didn't want to be hearing.

"Guild Master, I should inform you that Elynwen has just arrived with the other Guild Fighters from Skingrad." The porter shifted his gaze toward the centre of the room.

Karl raised his eyebrows. Following Dale's eyes, he spotted the Bosmer woman standing with three others.

Even though he'd been going over the roster of Guild Fighters, Karl had trouble recalling names of the Imperial man and his Argonian comrade. He remembered the Khajiit easily enough. He'd spoken with him briefly during his recent visit to Skingrad. Ras'Dar was that one that Northwind had found near the southern border region and Forester had sponsored his recruitment to the Guild.

"Guild Master." Elynwen addressed him formally as she approached. "Please accept my apology. We'd intended to be here a bit earlier than this."

"Elynwen." Karl exposed his lower tusks through a mild grin and took her hand in greeting. "It's good ta see ya."

"And you." The slender Wood Elf tilted her head slightly. With a glance, she indicated the others behind her. "As Guildhead Canne promised, I've brought along everyone else available from our guildhall. I expect that the other two are already here?"

Karl nodded. "Yeah. Forester an' ah… Maplewood. Already seen 'em. Now you're here, I reckon that's gotta be about everyone."

Elynwen inclined her head again in silent acceptance.

Karl continued. "Reckon I'll be gettin' everyone together some time tomorrow mornin' ta hand out the assignments."

"I take it that you have everything planned out and ready to proceed?"

"Yeah, ah… yeah. Hey look, I was just lookin' to get somethin' ta eat. If ya wanna come join me, I'll give ya the main highlights."

Elynwen agreed readily enough, looking to the others she'd brought along from Skingrad. Karl advised her that he'd had the porter set up some temporary bunking on the basement level. She took a brief moment to pass that detail onto her comrades, then joined Karl in heading for the kitchen area.

Once they'd gathered some food and drink from the kitchen, they found somewhere to sit down and eat. Karl had directed her over toward one of the benches along the side wall, away from the noisier activity of the centre of the room. That was only an option because the porter had cleared away anything that was non-essential to make room for the greater number of visiting Guild Fighters. He figured that it probably also had something to do with Dale anticipating that certain things were fairly likely to get broken if they weren't stashed away somewhere out of reach. By his reckoning, that seemed like a fair call.

After making a good start on his meal, Karl started to provide Canne's second with a basic outline of what he had planned. It was really just the broad strokes, rather than every detail. Though he did go into a bit of how he was intending to spread the Fighters Guild resources, now that he was certain of exactly who he had at his disposal.

Elynwen indicated her approval of the plans, including his reasoning for specific team leaders and the general composition of each group. In fact, she'd already discussed something along those lines with her own Guildhead, with regard to the Skingrad Guild Fighters. She assumed that a communication between Canne and Karl would've passed on similar suggestions.

After finishing their meals and some further brief conversation that mostly related to the matter at hand, the pair parted company. Elynwen intended to speak with her other comrades before cleaning up and settling in downstairs in that area that had been prepared for their stay. Karl returned the dishes and mugs to the kitchen, then headed off to find the find the bathroom before retiring to his bunk upstairs. Though he knew it was just wishful thinking, he was hoping that Frederick and his people might settle down earlier rather than later. Otherwise, any chance of getting proper shut-eye seemed like it might be elusive.

~O~


	8. Chapter 8

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 8

Middas the 29th of Hearthfire 4E49

As was often the case, Alex Pinewatch was awake with the dawn that morning. He'd already been up to go take a piss, then quietly returned to the bed where Monika was still sleeping.

Not a lot of natural light came through those tiny windows up near the ceiling. Without burning lamps or candles, those basement level rooms of the Oak and Crosier always remained a bit dim. It was just barely enough to see by and let him know that it was morning.

Unlike Monika, he generally found it difficult to sleep far past the dawn, even on those days when there was no good reason to be up early. Still, rather than disturbing her sleep, he chose to just quietly lie there, thinking about what the day ahead would hold.

Soft snorting noises emanated from the other side of the bed to his right. Monika would insist that she didn't snore, but that wasn't quite true. Certainly, it was nothing like the noise from a large drunken male or the like, but that sound coming from beneath the mess of fair coloured hair was snoring nonetheless.

Alex knew that they were supposed to be back at Chorrol's Fighters Guild that morning, but it didn't need to be too early. Provided that the rest of Skingrad's Guild Fighters had finally arrived in town, the Guild Master would most likely be calling everyone together to hear what he had planned for the goblin culling, ahead of actually sending everyone out.

Since Monika had already discussed some of it with Karl, Alex had some reasonable idea of what to be expecting. Unless anything had changed, he knew that Chorrol's Guild Fighters would be going out in two groups. Montrose would be leading one team and Monika the other. Alex was sure enough that he would be on her team, but he wasn't so sure of exactly who else would be in which group. He figured that he would be finding out soon enough.

Provided everything else remained on schedule, all that training of the previous day was likely to be the last of that kind of thing for a short while. He knew that the next time that he fired an arrow or drew his sword was likely to be for more serious purpose.

However mildly frustrating it might have seemed at the time, it seemed that he'd just about mastered that new bow by the end of the day. The sight along that elven bow was still just slightly off, but he'd managed to gain a good measure of exactly just how off target it was over a certain distance. By the time they'd finished up late in the afternoon, he was feeling fairly confident, or at the very least, far more confident than he'd been feeling at the beginning of that previous day when he first started with that new bow.

It was only with the fading light of the setting sun, that Monika had finally called an end to the lengthy training session. Of course, Odiil and Loran headed back into the guildhall where they usually bunked. Monika seemed keen to rush off after the long day for an early night. At the time, Alex hadn't given it that much thought, since he was feeling much the same.

They'd returned directly to the Oak and Crosier as it was getting dark. That place seemed a lot less rowdy after Frederick and his comrades had moved on. It was a fair assumption that the guildhall would have been a fair bit noisier that evening.

After setting aside their equipment downstairs, Alex and Monika came back up to the tavern to take a meal. Afterward, they cleaned up properly in the downstairs bathrooms, then retired to their rented room for the evening.

It was not until after all of that was done that Monika casually mentioned that she'd chosen to not to accept an invitation to take dinner with Forester and Maplewood at the Arborwatch. Even though Alex had been feeling fairly fatigued, he would have preferred to pass some more time with them, or at least, to have had some choice in the matter.

At the time, Alex had found himself feeling rather annoyed that he wasn't even consulted. There could have easily have been an argument about it, but he chose to hold his tongue. Even so, he imagined that Monika had picked up on his mood. It wasn't anything that he'd said. It was more about what wasn't being said.

Thinking back on it, he realised that had probably influenced her more amorous attentions a little later, after they'd gone to bed. Though they'd still turned in for the evening fairly early, it was a little later before they actually went to sleep.

A soft murmur emerging from beneath that mess of fair coloured hair indicated that Monika was probably beginning to wake, or was at least working her way toward it. Alex figured that he could let her sleep just a little longer if she wasn't ready to wake on her own.

A short moment later, some further restless shifting and grumbling murmurs signalled that she'd be waking sooner, rather than later.

Then fairly suddenly, Monika rolled over with a start, reaching blindly for the bedside table on that far side of the bed. "Shit… bloody where?"

Alex was only briefly startled. He paid only passing attention to the somewhat familiar ritual as Monika rummaged through the drawer of the bedside table. The frantic search ended as she withdrew a small vial of purple liquid and took a couple of quick sips. After replacing the stopper and dropping it back in the drawer, she flopped back down on the bed.

Though it remained unspoken, Alex understood what it was all about. That vial contained some sort of potion to keep her from falling pregnant. She generally acquired it from the College of Whispers. From things that he'd heard previously, he supposed that it was some sort of nightshade derivative or the like.

With her eyes still closed to the dim light, Monika mumbled a question. "Time's it?"

Alex offered his best guess. "After seven, but still well before eight, I think."

"Hmm." She acknowledged what he said, seemingly unconcerned. "Water?"

He took the water flask from his side table and passed it to her. She fumbled with the stopper, then took a few short sips before handing back to him.

Without opening her eyes, Monika stifled a yawn, then spoke again. "Think ah… think Karl wants us all at the guildhall this morning. Dunno what time. Just morning."

"Okay." Alex shifted, intending to get up.

Monika put her hand on his arm and squeezed it gently.

He paused in place. "I should go get our armour ready."

Opening just one eye partially, she nodded. Her hand dropped, patting him lightly on his bare leg. "Yeah. Be up in a moment."

Alex rose and collected their leather armour from where they had been left hanging to air out. He brought her armour and boots over to her, leaving them on the bed, then he started getting dressed.

Monika groaned and slowly stood up from the bed. She stretched, stifling another yawn and trying to summon the motivation to get dressed.

As he donned his armour, Alex passed a few brief glances her way. Her lithe frame provoked some passing thoughts. They were not of a lecherous nature. It was something a little more sobering than that. He was reminded that she was not too far off turning fifty, but from appearances, she seemed no older than his own years, if that.

Not for the first time, he was again reminded of Monika's parents. Just like Alex, Monika's father had been a Nord, though he'd live a rather different life. Nikulas had been a sailor, a merchant and a father of three children. He'd seemed perfectly satisfied with the life that he'd lived. It seemed obvious that he was far more concerned over those he would be leaving behind, than the matter of his days drawing to an end. He'd made it into his eighties, before his time was up. That was quite old for a Nord, but of course, potions and magical treatment from healers could only do so much.

Alex didn't actually know how old Monika's mother might be, but her Altmer blood had probably always meant that she was going to outlive her husband in most likely circumstances. He really wasn't even that certain of just how long most High Elves lived, but he supposed that Elwyn might still be around by the time that his own days were done.

As Alex pulled on his boots, he was thinking that Monika was only half-Altmer, but even if she didn't live as long as her mother, he imagined that she'd still outlive a typical Nord, and probably by far more than the twenty-odd years that she already had on him. That notion seemed to weigh heavily on his thoughts from time to time.

Still, Alex was put in mind of some of the things that Nikulas had said to him as they bonded over that vegetable patch behind his house in Wayrest. Her father carried no notable regret over the years he passed with his wife and children. He'd suggested that if he'd had a bit more sense, he might have done certain things a little differently, but there was no sense in complaining that he wasn't perfect. Overall, Nikulas had been pretty pleased with the way things had turned out with the extended family in Wayrest.

The old Nord was proud of each of his children and just as proud of the grandchildren that had come along. He'd briefly lamented some passing disappointment over the idea that Monika hadn't brought him a grandchild. He knew that he wouldn't be around to see it, but he also made a point of telling Alex it wasn't too late for Elwyn to see that come to pass.

Monika's voice roused Alex from his passing thoughts. "You oughta run a comb through your hair."

Alex noticed that she'd already dressed as he was daydreaming. She'd also finished combing her own hair and was just pulling on her boots. He glanced about for a comb.

Monika already had the comb in her hand. She stood up and waved him over. "Come here." She started tidying his hair once he was close enough. "Don't reckon we'll need any weapons today. Just need to get over there and be ready when everyone's called."

"Okay." Alex accepted.

Finishing with his hair, she stepped back to check her handiwork with a quick nod of satisfaction. "Get something to eat upstairs, before heading over?"

"Yes, okay." He agreed easily enough.

* * *

><p>Karl gro-Baroth paused a moment to glance out the window to the left of his desk. It looked like another fairly fine autumn day outside. There had been a slight chill in the air when he rose a couple of hours earlier. Just like the past few days, the rising sun had warmed up the morning fairly quickly. The distant sound of the bells ringing out from the Chapel of Stendarr told him that it had just gone eight.<p>

The last of those sleeping on the bunks of the second level had just departed. It wasn't too much of a surprise that Henrik and Catius were the last two to get up. Karl was just slightly relieved that Frederick had ended up in the basement level the previous evening, instead of on the second level. He imagined that those down on that lower level held a different opinion over the matter.

Karl figured that with all the activity down on the main level of the guildhall, he ought to be seeing the Guild Porter up on the second level fairly soon to open the windows and survey any mess left behind in the common bunking area.

Though he was shuffling through his notes and referring to that big map that he'd been looking to, he still kept an eye out for Dale. As soon as he saw him, he intended to send the porter back down to inform everyone in the guildhall to be ready for the gathering that morning.

He'd also be asking Dale to send out young Vinnus Odiil to make a quick dash about town to the various inns, taverns and other obvious locations to make sure that everyone made it to the guildhall that morning.

Karl wanted everybody gathered outside by the rear porch by mid-morning, so he could make sure that all the Guild Fighters were across what he had planned. Even though he'd be going over some things with the team leaders afterward, he wanted all of them there at the same time when he outlined the whole operation.

* * *

><p>Malcolm Forester and Rena Maplewood emerged from the Arborwatch Tavern and started making their way across Great Oak Plaza toward the Fighters Guild. The open street vendors were already setting up for business and there were more than a few people out on the street headed in each direction. Some were coming up toward the main plaza, but more were headed for the southern end of town.<p>

Both Forester and Maplewood had risen fairly early that morning, but had been in no particular hurry to head out. Forester had even taken time to trim his goatee beard and shave the other areas of his face. Once they were dressed, they went downstairs and took a morning meal in the tavern, before casually deciding that it would soon be time to go see what was happening over at the guildhall.

The bells of the chapel had finished ringing not long before they stopped by the main service counter of the tavern again to settle payment for another evening. They were confident that they'd be staying in Chorrol for at least another night before heading out.

It was on the street just outside the Arborwatch that they ran into the lad from the Odiil Farms settlement. He recognised the both of them right away and passed on the Guild Master's request for everyone to assemble behind the guildhall. Odiil only knew that the meeting would take place around mid-morning and nothing more than that. After checking with them that were no other Guild Fighters staying at the Arborwatch, he continued on down the street, and the other two continued on toward the guildhall.

Since they'd already received notification of what was expected, Forester and Maplewood headed directly for the outdoor training area out behind the guildhall, rather than going inside.

Several other Guild Fighters were already out there behind the building. Forester was briefly distracted by Henrik and Catius coming out of the guildhall onto the rear porch. The Nord and Imperial were laughing and jostling one another in a friendly fashion. It seemed that whatever had caused that fiction between them the previous afternoon appeared to be completely forgotten. He recalled that it was often much the same with Artellian and Temel-Za, back in Skingrad. Although, Forester never could tell whether the Argonian actually held any lingering grudges. At least, not from trying to read his expressions.

Rena nudged Forester to get his attention. He followed her gaze, noticing that Elynwen had arrived in Chorrol and was currently speaking with Suvaris. Temel-Za and Jaras Artellian were just nearby, speaking with the Orc and Nord woman from Cheydinhal.

After just a moment, Forester spotted Ras'Dar. The diminutive Suthay Khajiit was looking up at Frederick with a curious expression. That Imperial man that was new to Chorrol's guildhall was with them. No doubt, Frederick was regaling them with some tall tale.

With the exception of just a few, it seemed that nearly everyone was out there. However, a quick look around seemed to indicate no obvious sign of Northwind or Pinewatch.

At Rena's suggestion, they made their way over to see Elynwen.

Forester cleared his throat as they approached. "Ah Elynwen, I see that you've arrived with the rest of us."

Suvaris looked to Forester and Maplewood, inclining his head in silent greeting.

Turning to face them, the Bosmer woman tilted her head in acknowledgment. "Forester, Maplewood. Yes, we got in last night, just on nightfall."

"No trouble along the road?" Rena prompted.

Elynwen shrugged mildly. "Nothing of any concern."

"Very good." Forester nodded.

Elynwen looked to Forester. "Did the Guild Master brief you at all?"

Forester raised his eyebrows. "Well ah, we did report in to let him know that we were here and that you were on the way, but no, he didn't really provide us with any specific details."

With another tilt of her head, Elynwen shrugged. "From what he told me, it looks like the Skingrad guildhall will be splitting into two groups. I'll be leading one group and you'll lead the other."

Forester nodded. "As Guildhead Canne suggested, then?"

"Something like that. I won't claim to know all of what he has planned, just yet. Only the broader strokes of it."

Forester looked to Suvaris with a curious expression.

The Dunmer responded. "No, I don't really know any more than we discussed yesterday. Only that I'll be leading my compatriots from Cheydinhal."

Elynwen spoke again. "The Guild Master should be telling us the full plan this morning." She shifted to cast a glance toward the rear porch of the building.

Forester and Maplewood turned to follow her gaze, as did Suvaris. There was nothing to see, but they would be expecting to see Karl over there on that porch when he was ready to conduct his briefing.

Suvaris passed a comment. "Once the Guild Master is ready, I'm certain that we'll be made well aware of it."

"Of course." Forester agreed, looking back to the Dunmer.

It was just then that the rear doors of the guildhall opened. Forester and Maplewood both turned to look in that direction. The Guild Porter paused in the doorway to take a look about at those gathered outside, then went straight back inside.

Turning away from that false alarm, a brief conversation resumed. Expecting that he already knew the likely answer from what she'd already said, Forester asked Elynwen whether any sign of goblins had been spotted along the Hackdirt Road between Skingrad and Chorrol on the previous day.

The Wood Elf confirmed that she'd seen no indication of such a thing. She mentioned only that they'd encountered a bear by the roadside just before Hackdirt. It caused no trouble for them, since the creature had run off in response to a few arrows and some shouting and shield banging. Otherwise, that back road had been relatively quiet.

Responding to Rena's question about The Gold Road, Elynwen advised that there hadn't been any fresh reports of goblin attacks along that stretch in the few days since they'd left Skingrad. Since Karl gro-Baroth had advised her that he'd arranged for units from the Legion to deal with that specific area, she seemed confident that it wouldn't be too long before that particular thing was no longer a concern for anyone.

Noting that the younger Dunmer in his charge had just taken up a bow to get in some target practice, Suvaris politely excused himself to go see after Aldreth.

Just a moment later, the rear doors of the guildhall opened again. Elynwen was already looking in that direction. Forester and Rena turned about to see. That time it was Monika and Alex emerging from the guildhall. They paused just briefly on the porch and looked about. In response to Foresters friendly gaze, they made their way over toward him.

Friendly greetings were exchanged. Though it was fair to note that the greeting between Monika and Elynwen seemed somewhat less warm. There was no open hostility, but it always seemed that the Bosmer remained slightly cool and reserved in Monika's immediate presence. It was most likely due to Guildhead Canne's notable dislike for the 'Northwind woman', as she commonly referred to her. Though Elynwen had never experienced any direct conflict with Monika, she tended to side with her superior.

In conversation with Forester, Elynwen had commented briefly on the make up of their respective teams with a tone of approval. She mentioned that as well heading her own team, she was the most effective healer, tracker and archer. She added that Temel-Za was competent enough with a bow. With regard to Forester's team, she commented upon his own healing skills and his effectiveness with ranged destruction magic. She noted that Ras'Dar's tracking and archery skills would serve the balance of his own team rather well.

After just a few moments, Alex had spotted Ras'Dar speaking with Janus Loran and mentioned going over to see the Khajiit. As he moved away, Monika excused herself from those three Skingrad Guild Fighters and followed him.

Alex spoke up first. "Ras'Dar, it is good to see you again."

The cat's ears pricked up and he turned about with a broad grin upon his stubby snout. He was one of those Suthay Khajiit. Shorter than the Suthay-raht and with those feline-shaped feet that don't fit into regular boots. Though he was short, the Khajiit carried a muscular frame. Upon his head, he wore his golden mane in shorter braids. A sandy coloured fur covered the rest of his body.

Ras'Dar's wide smile remained in place as his gaze flickered back and forth between Alex and Monika. "This one is very pleased to be seeing you again."

Monika passed comment. "Yeah well, you look well. I hear that the Fighters Guild is working out well for you."

The Khajiit nodded in an animated fashion. "Ras'Dar has been very pleased to be serving at Skingrad."

Alex added another comment. "Forester said that you have already made second rank over at Skingrad."

Ras'Dar nodded again. "Yes, yes. Khajiit is working very hard to be good enough for others at Fighters Guild." He paused on a thought. "Ras'Dar should be asking about Bosmer girl. Belwen is well, yes?"

Monika nodded. "Yes, she is. Belwen is still working for Nerussa at the Wawnet Inn. It seems to suit her well enough. Both of them, I s'pose."

Just then, a few heads turned again in response to movement at the rear doors of the guildhall. It was just young Vinnus Odiil returning from dashing about town. From the look of things, his errand had been mostly unnecessary. Monika and Alex had run into him on the street on their way up from the inn. By the time they'd arrived at the guildhall, it looked like all the other Guild Fighters were already there. Everyone except for Vinnus, anyway.

Janus Loran had been standing there quietly until just then. "Ras'Dar was just telling me about some of the goblins they've dealt with about Skingrad." The former Legionnaire was one of those fairly ordinary looking types. Though he was Colovian, he looked just a bit like Alex, only a little older, with a slightly darker complexion and a neatly cropped head of dark brown hair.

The smaller Khajiit affected a serious expression. "This one had not needed to fight against goblins before. Ras'Dar had seen only one or two goblins in forests about Riverhold of Elsweyr. Not so many as those we have fought near Skingrad over recent moons."

Alex looked to Janus without actually verbalising a question.

Loran shrugged. "I've fought the odd goblin before, with the Legion, but I haven't had to deal with any larger numbers. Not larger tribal groups or the like."

Monika spoke up. "Yeah well, I hope you're ready for this. It's not gonna be like what you're used to."

Loran affected a confident expression. "Yes, I think so, even though this will be a bit different from serving with the Legion."

Monika responded. "Yes, it is different. With breaking up into smaller teams, we're not relying upon numbers. It's more about taking the goblins down with the least amount of trouble. Whenever possible, pick them off from a distance. Try to thin out their numbers before needing to get in close. Most of all, we watch out for each other when we're working together like that."

Loran returned a curt nod. "I get it. Follow your lead."

Monika's expression indicated she was moderately satisfied with that response.

The former soldier affected a slight smirk. "One other thing's different from Legion operations. As well as the contract payment, we get to keep whatever we find out there."

"Don't expect too much from goblins." Monika's retort carried an impassive tone.

Loran shrugged with a crooked grin.

Just then, the door at the rear door of the guildhall opened again. The Guild Porter poked his head out. He quickly looked from side to side, then closed the door again.

"Can't be too long now." Monika surmised.

Alex released a short sigh. "All this waiting around." He probably wasn't the only one thinking that.

Monika glanced to the relatively clear skies. "At least the weather is fair."

~O~


	9. Chapter 9

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 9

Middas the 29th of Hearthfire 4E49 Late Morning

It had to be well after ten as Karl gro-Baroth left his office. He noticed that the main level of the guildhall had gone real quiet as he came downstairs. At first, it looked like there was nobody about at all until he saw the Guild Porter poke his head out from the kitchen area.

"Dale, everyone outside?"

The porter tossed a cleaning cloth back into the kitchen, then came out. "Yes Guild Master, I believe so."

Karl nodded curtly. "Right, that's good. Can ya give us a hand with this?"

"Of course." Dale came over to help.

Karl was juggling several items. He held some scrolls under one arm, some documents in one hand, a hammer and a pouch of nails in the other. He passed the hammer and pouch over to Dale. "I wanna get these maps nailed up on the wall outside."

Dale returned a silent nod, then followed the big Orc toward the back doors along the northern wall of the guildhall.

Stepping outside onto the rear porch, Karl noticed that it looked like everyone was out there. At least, as far as he could tell. Most of the Guild Fighters looked to be just milling about and talking among themselves. Just a few were sparring under the morning sun.

He spotted his Breton second speaking with that other Orc that came with Suvaris from Cheydinhal and called out to him. "Hey, Montrose."

Francois Montrose excused himself and headed directly for the porch.

"Can I get ya ta round up everyone an' get 'em ready?"

"Will do." Montrose dashed off to spread the word that Karl's briefing was about to start and to try herding everybody toward to the area just near the rear porch.

Karl returned his attention to Dale and getting those two maps fixed to the outside wall. One map covered a wider area stretching from County Chorrol to the Imperial City, with Skingrad down in the lower left corner. The various settlements, farms and other notable locations and landmarks were clearly indicated on that map.

The other map featured a smaller area with fewer locations on it. Most of what featured on that second map was just part of The Great Forest. Chorrol was on the left side of that map. The Orange Road skirted along near the top and The Black Road along the bottom, with the Fort Ash settlement clearly marked along that road. A section of The Red Ring Road appeared on the right hand side. There were only about six locations marked inside the forest area. They were mostly just old ruins and caves. One marking indicated the site of the remains of a broken Oblivion Gate from the time of that crisis.

With those maps nailed up in place where they could be clearly seen, Karl grabbed his other documents and then gave the porter the nod.

Dale understood exactly what he meant. He raised his hands and made an effort to get everyone's attention. "Please direct your attention toward the Guild Master." It seemed that only a few paid him proper attention.

"Listen up." Karl shouted with a bit more authority than the porter's voice carried.

The murmurs and mumbles faded somewhat, without completely falling away to perfect silence.

"Everybody quiet." Frederick boomed loudly. The big Nord looked about to see that everyone was in compliance.

Karl spoke up again. "Yeah awright, everybody listen up. Ya all know why we're here and what's sposed ta be goin' down. Least in general terms." He paused. "Been a good twenty years since the last proper goblin cull. What we've been seein' lately is fair indication that's been way too long."

A dull murmur of agreement was heard from a few among the crowd. Frederick shot a harsh glare about the gathering, toward no one in particular. That served to quickly return the group to a general state of silence and attention.

Karl waited just a moment before continuing. "This ain't gonna be just a free for all. I wanna make it real clear that I 'spect you lot to keep to the plan an' get this done in an orderly fashion." He paused again. "Now, we're doin' this to take out a lot of goblins, but we ain't aimin' to wipe them out. Just get the numbers down a fair bit. In any case, if there was no gobs, then there'd just be more other problems. Like the number of wolves an' forest rats gettin' outa control or somethin' else like that."

Karl stepped back toward the wall, drawing attention to that map that covered the broader area. In turn, he pointed to specific locations on the lower part of the map. "First up, I'll point out what I got organised with the Legion. Down here, some units from the Ninth and Sixth Legion are gatherin' near Weye and this spot by the White Rose River. They're gonna be sweepin' these parts of the forest to the north and south of The Gold Road."

He pointed to a location on the upper right hand side of the map. "Over here, I got some Third Legion gatherin' near Aleswell. They're gonna be sweepin' the area from The Red Ring Road north to The Orange Road, then makin' their way westward."

"Is that the whole Third Legion?" Henrik asked the question.

Frederick glared at the other Nord. Henrik shrugged apologetically, falling silent.

Karl responded to the query. "No it ain't. Just the units under one Centurion."

Henrik opened his mouth again, then decided not to actually speak.

Karl looked to his newest Guild Fighter. Up until just recently, he'd been serving as a Legionnaire in the Twelfth. "Loran?"

Janus Loran hesitated before responding. "Well ah, under one Centurion, depending upon support roles, that's anything up to eighty soldiers in total. With no cavalry involvement in this sort of thing, more likely only about sixty-odd active soldiers."

"Sixty." Vinnus Odiil spoke in a small voice.

Karl spoke up again to take back the focus. "Shouldn't need ta be tellin' you lot, but I'll say it anyways. Regular Legion soldiers ain't like Guild Fighters. They're good at followin' orders and such. An' they're good at fightin' armies an' stuff like that." He paused to look at everyone. "But they'll most likely be makin' so much noise, that they're gonna be scarin' the gobs off, if they're only in smaller groups. Even so, up against a big goblin tribe, that's where they'll come into their own. An' that's what I'm countin' on."

The Guild Master drew attention toward the second map that showed that particular area of the forest in greater detail. He moved his hand along The Black Road between Chorrol and the Fort Ash settlement. "Our job's gonna be to sweep through the forest from here eastward. To do that, you lot are gonna break up into six teams of no less than three. Each team's gonna cover a specific area. The aim is ta have all the teams eventually meet up at the ruins of Lindai." He pointed at the relevant mark on the map. "After gettin' through whatever else is out there, the plan is ta get near this spot where there's s'posed ta be a big tribe of gobs, but wait for the Third Legion to turn up before goin' in."

Karl advised that each of the six groups of Guild Fighters would be comprised of those that were already well used to working together. He went on to list out the leaders of those six teams.

Montrose and Northwind would be heading each of the two Chorrol teams. Elynwen and Forester would be leading the two Skingrad teams. Since they held seniority, Frederick the Loud and Suvaris would handle those from Bruma and Cheydinhal.

Referring to his papers, Karl clarified the make up of each of those six teams.

Frederick's group of Guild Fighters from Bruma was perfectly obvious. He'd have Wilhem, Rolf and Hans with him.

It was just as obvious with Suvaris' people from Cheydinhal. He'd be leading Griznak, Leda and Aldreth.

Karl had already decided on the mix of the two Chorrol teams some time ago, before anything else had been looked at and he'd stuck with that grouping. Montrose would be taking Catius and Henrick. Northwind would have Pinewatch, Odiil and Loran.

In a similar fashion, the make up of the two Skingrad teams had already been in mind and were finalised in discussion with Elynwen just the previous evening. She'd have Temel-Za and Artellian with her. Forester would have Maplewood and Ras'Dar.

With that aspect sorted for everyone concerned, Karl went on to detail exactly where each group would be headed. Directing attention to the maps, he advised that the Cheydinhal team should firstly head to Fort Ash. From there, they'd head east, then work around toward the north. On the map, he indicated the part of the forest they'd be covering, tracing an arcing line up toward those Ayleid ruins where the goblin tribes were meant to be.

Elynwen's Skingrad team would also start off from Fort Ash, then work northward along the eastern side of The Black Road. He indicated a path that ran adjacent to where Suvaris' team would be headed.

He expected both of those teams to head off for Fort Ash the next morning and then be ready to get under way first thing on Fredas. All the others teams were expected to leave from Chorrol that same morning.

Moving his hand toward the upper part of the map, Karl indicated that the Bruma team would be setting off along The Orange Road, then work along that area of the forest to eventually make their way southward toward the Lindai ruins.

Montrose's team was meant to head off from the north side of Chorrol and head eastward, covering the area just to the south of Frederick's group.

Northwind's team would be going just south of Chorrol toward Weynon Priory and then working their way eastward, just south of Montrose's group.

Forester's Skingrad team was to go to the Odiil Farm settlement and then head northeast through the forest. That group would be covering the area between the path of Northwind's and Elywen's teams.

Karl reiterated that all the teams should be converging upon Lindai, but they should hold off until the Third Legion was in place. He indicated a spot just north of those ruins. He advised that there was meant to be a wooded hillside that overlooked those ruins. By his reckoning, that was the best place for everyone to meet up.

With each of those major parts of the plan explained, the Guild Master stepped away from the maps to address the gathering directly.

He glanced up to the mostly clear skies. "From the looks of things, 'less things change unexpectedly, the weather oughta be no problem at all. Right now, Secunda's on the wane, but Masser will be full on Sundas night. So, there oughta still be plenty of moonlight at night. Even so, don't go fightin' tired if ya don't hafta. In any event, gobs an' other things are much easier to spot in daylight."

Karl paused on a thought. "Remember, them goblins are the main reason for the goin' out there, but they ain't the only things in that forest. Should go without sayin', I wanna hear about gobs goin' down, not Guild Fighters. So, be careful out there an' get yerselves back in one piece."

The Guild Master paused to look over the faces of the gathering once again before he continued. "I'm gonna wanna see the six team leaders upstairs again. Just two at a time. As for the rest of ya, that oughta give ya enough time to get any supplies that are needed. Archers oughta make sure you got arrows. Whether or not ya got healers with magic skills on ya team, make sure ya got healin' potions, bandages an' the like. An' like I said, be careful out there."

After another pause, Karl spoke again. "Reckon that's about it, 'less anyone's got questions that need answerin'."

There was a moment of passing dull murmurs, but none of the Guild Fighters directly raised anything. For most of them, it all seemed perfectly straightforward. Just get out there and take down as many goblins as they came across in the forest, until getting to those old Ayleid ruins. Then, wait for the Legion before taking out that larger goblin tribe.

Karl advised that he'd leave those maps up there for everyone to examine as needed. He then indicated that he wanted to see Suvaris and Elynwen first, since they were leaving first and going to Fort Ash, then he'd see the other team leaders in pairs afterward.

With his documents in hand, the big Orc turned about to head back inside the guildhall. Suvaris and Elynwen shifted to follow him inside and up to his office.

* * *

><p>With the Guild Master's main briefing concluded, the gathering of Guild Fighters started to disperse a little. Odiil, Loran and Aldreth stepped up onto the porch to study the maps more closely. Some of the others drifted off in familiar groupings. Frederick headed off after those other three from Bruma, when it looked like they were planning to stray on their own. In Elynwen's absence, all of the Skingrad Guild Fighters seemed to cluster just near Forester.<p>

Forester took a step toward Montrose. "Well, I suppose that some of us need to wait around a little longer. At least until Suvaris and Elynwen are done."

Montrose responded with a shrug. "I don't expect that they'll be too long." He spoke with that affected accent that implied he was really from High Rock, like his parents. In truth, he'd never been outside of Cyrodiil.

Forester was reasonably aware that Monika held some personal annoyance with regard to the Breton's affectations, but he wasn't really bothered by it all. "As his second, surely you would have already known most of the Guild Master's plan of attack?"

Montrose shrugged again. "A lot of it, but not all of it. I did expect that I might be leading Catius and Henrick. I actually thought that we might be headed for Fort Ash, but it looks like Suvaris has that."

Forester nodded. "Yes well, I suppose it makes some sense of sorts. The Bruma team at one end, the Cheydinhal team at the other and the rest of us evenly distributed in between."

Montrose reflected an agreeable expression. "Yes, I think so."

Maplewood sidled up beside her husband. "I s'pose we'll need to be looking to stocking up on some supplies this afternoon."

Forester looked to her with a mild expression. "Yes, I expect so."

"Might wait until after you've spoken with the Guild Master."

"Yes, of course." Forester maintained an agreeable tone.

Having overheard that discussion between Forester and Maplewood, Alex turned to Monika with a suggestion. "Should I be heading off to stock up on supplies?"

Monika wrinkled her nose. "Nah, it can wait until after I've seen Karl. We've already got plenty of arrows and enough potions and stuff."

"We will need some food." Alex suggested.

"Yeah, can't live on pears." She returned a crooked grin. That morning, they'd just left the greater portion of those ripening pears in the guildhall kitchen, keeping just a few of them for themselves. "What we're gonna need is some dried rations and the like from the general store."

Alex looked like he was about to suggest that he could easily deal with that on his own, but decided against it, anticipating that she held other ideas.

Monika continued. "Yeah, don't let Vinnus or Janus wander off. I want them to come with us to the stores. Make sure they're both properly equipped and supplied. Especially Janus, he still thinks too much like a Legionnaire."

"Okay." Alex just agreed with her, casting an eye over toward those other two.

Odiil, Loran and Aldreth were still looking at those maps and appeared to be discussing various points of interest related to what was marked.

Monika turned to Forester to offer some further insight relating to those smaller goblins incursions about the Odiil Farms settlement, since that was where he'd be leading his own team before heading off deeper into the forest.

At that same time, it seemed that various discussions were taking place between the other Guild Fighters outside. Montrose had pulled aside Catius and Henrick to tell them a few things before they disappeared off on their own. Griznak and Leda hung together, apparently waiting for Suvaris to return. The other Guild Fighters from Skingrad milled about just near Forester, talking among themselves.

A little further away, it almost sounded as though Frederick was arguing with his comrades from Bruma. However, it was more likely that he was just telling them what he thought they should be getting in the way of supplies.

Before too long, Suvaris and Elynwen had returned, emerging from the rear doors of the guildhall. The older Dunmer paused to speak with Aldreth on the porch. Elynwen stepped down and walked over toward her own people. She advised Forester to head on up to the Guild Master's office.

At Forester's suggestion, Monika agreed to join him and they headed directly inside the guildhall to go speak with Karl.

Just as Suvaris and Aldreth moved to join those other two from Cheydinhal, Frederick's voice rang out again. "Suvaris, my friend. Have you finished with Karl gro-Baroth already?"

"Well yes, it didn't take quite so long." The older Dunmer met Frederick's gaze with his piercing red eyes.

The bulky Nord looked about with a slight frown. "Where's Forester?"

"I believe that he's gone upstairs with Northwind." Suvaris offered.

Frederick grunted. "I was intending to go see the Guild Master with him." He quickly set his eyes upon Montrose and moved toward the Breton. "Montrose."

Francois Montrose flinched in response to the booming noise and turned to see why Frederick was calling out to him. Catius and Henrick took that as their cue that he was done with them and went on their way. Alex had already stepped back a little, but hadn't gone far.

"It seems that we'll be going up to see the Guild Master together." Frederick patted the smaller man upon the shoulder rather firmly.

Montrose stooped slightly from the unexpectedly firm hand. "Yes, so it seems. As soon as the other two are done."

Frederick's broad grin seemed just a little too enthusiastic to be perfectly authentic. It wasn't as though he really knew Montrose. In fact, he hardly knew him at all. It seemed like he was overcompensating for that circumstance.

To avoid an oddly awkward silence, Montrose asked the big Nord just how well that he knew that particular area he'd be heading off into.

Of course, Frederick knew The Orange Road well enough. He was also aware of a couple of caves located close to the roadside along that stretch of road. However, he'd not previously had much reason go too deeply into that specific part of The Great Forest.

Montrose went on to offer the benefit of his experience with that general area.

Frederick appeared to listen with interest.

During that discourse, Alex had edged further away from Montrose, instead gravitating toward the cluster of Guild Fighters from Skingrad.

After speaking with Elynwen about something, Maplewood turned to Alex. "Didn't see you at the Arborwatch last night. I thought you and Monika might've joined us, if you finished up early enough."

Alex shrugged in an apologetic fashion. "We were training right up until dark."

She nodded with an understanding expression. "Ah, I see. Yeah, we were having an early meal anyway. With Suvaris… and Aldreth, the other Dunmer. Would've been a bit too late by then."

Alex didn't say anything, but his expression indicated his understanding.

Rena continued. "Yeah well, we won't be heading out until the morning after tomorrow. We could try again for tonight?"

Alex nodded. "I would like that. I will mention it to Monika."

"If we do though, still better to make it fairly early. Like, before six. Before the rush."

"Yes. Good idea." He'd been keeping one eye on Vinnus and Janus. Noticing that they were walking away from those maps on the wall, Alex waved out to them to get their attention. He looked back to Rena, apologetically. "I need to speak with these two."

Maplewood returned a short nod.

Alex converged on the two Imperials. "Monika wants us to wait for her."

Loran frowned a little. "What's up?"

Alex shrugged slightly. "Nothing, really. She just wants us all together when we go, to make sure we are properly supplied."

Loran returned a shrug of his own. "Sure. Makes sense."

"She did say not to wander off." Odiil added, glancing back toward the porch, indicating that she'd said that when she'd passed by.

Alex anticipated some of the things that Monika might be raising with them. He already knew that neither Vinnus nor Janus knew anything about healing magic or the like. He mentioned that the both of them should be making sure that they have potions and other supplies for the treatment of injury. Paraphrasing some things that he'd often enough, he suggested that it would be far better to avoid any injuries when they were out there. Even so, it would always be better to have those supplies and not need them, than not having them right they needed them.

Janus was reminded of the way the Legion operated with that kind of thing. It wasn't common to see a proper healer in any Legion unit. Still, nearly every field unit on deployment would have at least one soldier with basic healing training.

More for the benefit of Janus than Vinnus, Alex mentioned that both Monika and he had some basic training with healing spells. Of course, Monika was better at it, but Alex could manage well enough with minor things. Still, he reiterated that it would be far better that no one found themselves in need of that.

The former Legionnaire wasn't about to disagree with that suggestion at all.

Before too long, Forester and Monika had returned from that upstairs meeting with Karl gro-Baroth. Frederick the Loud had noticed that right away. Drawing the attention of Montrose, the pair of them headed off to go take their turn with the Guild Master.

Stepping down from the rear porch, Monika quickly homed in on Alex and those other two. Forester headed for his own comrades, then he and Elynwen saw to briefing and organising those other Skingrad Guild Fighters.

By that time, midday had come and gone, giving way to the afternoon. Monika outlined her immediate intent for the remainder of the day. After waiting for Vinnus to return from visiting the guildhall's bathroom, the four of them headed off together to look at stocking up on supplies.

* * *

><p>The afternoon was growing late by the time that Alex and Monika finally returned to the Oak and Crosier. Of course, both Loran and Odiil had gone off back to the guildhall after they'd parted ways.<p>

After leaving the vicinity of guildhall earlier that afternoon, they'd firstly visited the College of Whispers, located just nearby. Monika negotiated with Samuel, the Breton man who usually attended the front counter, to make sure that everyone was properly stocked with the appropriate potions.

In passing, Alex had exchanged brief greetings with Patrick, the balding middle-aged man who had provided his training in basic healing spells the previous year. Once again, Patrick had dropped some less than subtle hints that Alex could benefit from investing in learning some more advanced healing techniques.

Though Alex hadn't recently seen her, he knew that Monika was a close friend of Florence, the Colovian woman in charge of Chorrol's College of Whispers. He imagined that if they hadn't been otherwise busy, Monika might have liked to take some time to go have a chat with her.

Once they were done with that place, they'd headed off down to the blacksmith store down the street and then off to the general store down at the southern end of town.

Monika and Alex didn't really need anything from the smith, but they were there to ensure that the other two were properly stocked with archery supplies. Young Vinnus was easy enough to persuade. It was more about making sure that Loran was properly equipped.

Passing Elynwen and some other Skingrad Guild Fighters along the street, they continued onward to the general store located not far from the Oak and Crosier Inn. They each stocked up on relevant supplies according to likely need. Since they were likely to be in the forest for several days, dried rations and things like that represented the main priority.

Once Alex and Monika were back at the Oak and Crosier, they set aside the supplies they'd purchased with the intent of getting everything sorted and packed the next day.

Alex had been holding onto a thought. "Rena suggested that we might join them for dinner at the Arborwatch."

"Oh, yes?" Monika continued sorting some items spread out on the bench.

"She suggested that they would be eating early, before the evening rush in the tavern. It is still early enough."

Monika made a noise that indicated that she was listening; though she kept at what she was doing.

Alex pressed a little more. "That would be the last chance for that, before we head off into the forest."

Monika released a sigh. She looked up to those small windows near the ceiling, gauging the fading light coming from outside. "Yeah, alright then." She sighed again. "Don't wanna make a late night of it."

"No, of course not."

"Well, I s'pose we'd better get over there, then."

Alex readily agreed, making an effort to quickly tidy up things so that they could head off as soon as possible.

Soon enough, Monika and Alex left the Oak and Crosier and headed up the street to the Arborwatch Tavern. Once they were inside, they thought that they might need to look for those other two. However, Forester and Maplewood had just been coming down the stairs as they arrived. After exchanging casual greeting, they secured a table in the tavern and looked to getting some dinner.

Some casual conversation passed over a meal. It seemed that Rena kept steering the tone of conversation to things that highlighted recent activities involving both herself and Forester. At the same time, it seemed that Monika's comments more often appeared to point toward other people. It was entirely possible that neither Alex nor Forester noticed anything at all.

As was generally the case, Forester was the last one to finish his meal. Once he'd finished, he passed a few comments relating to that brief meeting that he and Monika attended with the Guild Master.

There hadn't been all that much to it. Karl had mostly just gone over what he'd already said. For the most part, it seemed that he just wanted to make sure that each of the team leaders were clear on the details and happy with what had been organised.

Even afterward, it seemed that the team leader meetings didn't really breed much in the way of further discussion.

During a pause, Alex passed an idle comment. "I thought that Ras'Dar might be here with you tonight."

Forester cleared his throat. "Yes well, I'm sure I'll be seeing quite enough of him over the following days."

Rena nudged him with her elbow. "Ras'Dar's okay. I reckon it's Elynwen who got the tough job. She gets to manage those other two; and she still has to fight goblins."

Forester's expression indicated that he held no argument with that.

Monika added her own comments, mentioning that she didn't mind not having to listen to any bickering between Henrick and Catius; Montrose was welcome to that. Though she added that she knew what to expect from young Odiil, she didn't seem so sure of Loran. Even though she accepted his years of experience as a Legionnaire, she still held some minor reservation over how well he'd handle himself with the Fighters Guild.

Before too long, with the tavern starting to grow a bit busier, the four Guild Fighters agreed to call it a night. After brief farewells, Monika and Alex headed off as Forester and Rena returned back upstairs.

Returning to the Oak and Crosier, Monika and Alex made their way directly downstairs to the basement level of the inn. In turn, they visited the bathrooms on that level and then retired to their room to turn in for the evening.

Alex passed some time fussing over the supplies that they'd be taking with them in their packs. Monika had urged him to leave it for the morning. As she suggested, there would be plenty of time for that then. The next day would be all about those last minute preparations and then another early evening before heading out early the following morning. Even with all going well, it would most likely be several days before they returned to the comfort of that place.

~O~


	10. Chapter 10

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 10

Fredas the 1st of Frostfall 4E49

Both Monika and Alex were up before the dawn that morning. That wasn't anything particularly different for Alex. He was used to waking with the sunrise, even if he was not actually getting up quite that early. He had been waking fairly early every morning since getting back from that farm up near Battlehorn Castle. However, that was the first morning that week that he actually rose right away.

Even though Monika had slept much later each day since they'd returned to the Oak and Crosier Inn in Chorrol, she had no trouble at all getting up early that morning, since there was an actual reason to do so. That didn't necessarily put her in a cheery mood, but she was up and prepared to get under way fairly quickly.

During the previous day, they'd sorted through their equipment and supplies and everything had been properly packed and was ready to go. Aside from that task, the only other thing of note they'd attended that day had been a brief visit to the guildhall. That was mostly just about seeing Vinnus Odiil and Janus Loran to make sure that they were fully across the plan and properly organised for Fredas morning.

While they were over there at the guildhall, Monika had a brief conversation with Karl gro-Baroth, since he'd come downstairs to grab something from the kitchen. Alex had later learned that they'd talked about Dale, the Guild Porter. Apparently, Dale had been growing noticeably frustrated with certain things of late. Alex had not really noticed it at all, but Karl had and Monika had also picked up on it. From what Monika had said, it was mostly about the lack of respect that he received from other members of the Fighters Guild.

Karl gro-Baroth certainly recognised that the place couldn't function properly without Dale Gavinus running all the general day to day things of the guildhall. Monika certainly agreed with that and Alex wasn't likely to argue any differently.

Still, since Dale wasn't really viewed by others as a proper Guild Fighter, that tended to come out as a general tone of disrespect.

It was only just that previous day that Alex learned of something that he did not know about the porter. Back when he was still just a low ranking Guild Fighter, during a skirmish with a roadside bandit, Dale been injured by an arrow to the chest. With some luck on his side, he'd survived that near fatal injury and received proper healing treatment. However, that arrow had passed very close to his heart. Even after he'd recovered and healed, he could only exert himself just so much. It wasn't like he was unable to tend to those general duties than he'd taken on as Guild Porter of Chorrol's guildhall, but he remained unable to serve in roles that required active combat. That explained why Alex had never seen him take any involvement in training with other Fighters Guild members.

Of course, Karl, Monika and Montrose had always known all about Dale's circumstances. However, most of the others remained perfectly unaware of those things.

Since Dale wasn't likely to be talking about that sort of thing, Karl intended to have some words with certain Guild Fighters. The last thing that the big Orc wanted was for Dale to pack it all in. Even if the porter could be somewhat annoying, it would be difficult to find anyone else that would do the job near as well.

Karl intended to have a proper conversation with Dale as well. Without turning it into a tavern song, he planned to make sure that the porter knew that his work was considered important and properly valued.

After leaving the guildhall behind that day, Monika and Alex headed back to the Oak and Crosier for the remainder of Turdas.

Since there would be no be opportunity for such things over the following days, Alex had taken the time to have a proper shave that afternoon. He even washed his hair with that potion that Monika had acquired for him. He had again briefly entertained the notion of having it cut shorter, but left that idea aside.

After an early meal, Alex and Monika retired to their basement level room in the inn for another early evening before the work that lay ahead.

Early that previous morning, Suvaris' Cheydinhal team and Elynwen's Skingrad team would have set off for the Fort Ash settlement, located several leagues down The Black Road, about half way to the Imperial City. It was fair to assume that both of those groups had found accommodation at the inn beneath the old fort and would be heading off into The Great Forest just as early on Fredas morning.

Those remaining four teams of Guild Fighters would be setting off from Chorrol just as soon. Frederick's group from Bruma would be leaving via the northern city gates to head off along The Orange Road. Montrose would also leave via those gates just near the guildhall, heading directly into the forest near the eastern side of the city walls.

Forester and Monika's teams needed to make their way just south of the city to arrive at their respective destinations. From those locations, they'd then be heading off into The Great Forest to attend to the task ahead.

The dawn had come and gone, but it was still quite early as Monika and Alex stood waiting outside on the street just near the Oak and Crosier Inn. They were dressed in their leather armour and loaded up with equipment and weapons. Expectant glances were cast up along the street toward the northern end of town. They'd organised for Odiil and Loran to meet them there on the way down to the main gates in the southern wall of the city.

At that time of the morning, there were few people out and about on the streets. It would be a while before any of the stores or open street vendors would be preparing for the business day.

A sleepy looking guard leaned on the wall just by the main gates. It wasn't immediately obvious whether he was still there from the evening shift or whether he'd started the morning shift.

As they waited by the inn, another couple of guards of the city watch came down the hill from Castle Chorrol. It looked like both of them were just starting their day.

A pair of elderly women had made their way down the street from the northern end of town. It looked like they had come from the Castle Row district, that small avenue of houses situated between the castle and the northern city wall. Those two women offered glances of acknowledgment as they passed by and headed westward along Chapel Street. It looked like they were both headed for the temple.

A Dunmer with a weathered face came along the street from the West District and headed directly for the southern gates. From the look of him, it was a fair guess that he worked one of those small farming plots located just outside the main city.

After a short while of waiting for Odiil and Loran, Monika made the suggestion that if those other two didn't turn up soon, she intended to head up the street to the guildhall to go get them. Almost as soon as she had made that suggestion, they noticed some more people coming down the street from that direction.

At the front of the group, were Forester and Maplewood. Just behind them, Ras'Dar was keeping pace. Behind those three, were Odiil and Loran.

Once they'd drawn near, morning greetings were exchanged. Both Forester and Rena seemed to be fairly relaxed and in good cheer. Ras'Dar looked to be excitable and enthusiastic. Both Odiil and Loran looked like they'd rather be sleeping, but otherwise appeared ready to go about the day.

Clearing his throat, Forester looked toward the gates. "Well, since we're all headed in the same direction, we might as well travel together. At least as far as the priory."

"Yeah, sounds good." Monika maintained a businesslike tone.

Everyone fell into step. The procession of Guild Fighters passed by the familiar statue of the Saint of Sancre Tor on their way to the main gates in the city wall. That old statue featured a kneeling woman cradling a fallen soldier. Alex was certain that he'd heard at least four different versions of the story behind that monument since he'd been living in Chorrol. All those tales agreed that it was a memorial for those that fell at the Battle of Sancre Tor, but each version varied with respect to certain details of the figures represented in the sculpture.

As they were walking, Forester passed a comment directed at Monika. "I expect that you'll be past the priory and entering the forest by the first hour."

"Yeah, about that." Monika agreed in an even toned voice.

Rena exchanged a silent glance with her husband.

Forester responded to her silent question. "Yes well, I expect that it will more like three hours before we reach the back of the fields behind Odiil Farms."

"Yeah, usually about that." Monika confirmed that estimate impassively.

They all fell quiet just as they approached the guard by the gates. Silent nods of acknowledgment were exchanged with the weary guard as the group passed though the southern gates. It was the same thing with the other sleepy guard stationed just outside.

Under most normal circumstances, the guards of the city watch were never terribly concerned with people leaving the city. In general, they weren't even all that concerned with people coming into the city, unless it was someone they didn't recognise or just someone of particularly suspicious looking appearance. It was often only when someone new to the job or new to Chorrol was posted at the city gates, that things were much different.

At that time of morning, those open street stalls along the road were not yet attended at all. Nor was there any activity about those few houses on the right. There were two rather small wooden homes just off the road on that western side, with a larger stone building set back behind them. Further along the road on that side, a stablehand was tending some horses in the yard of the large stabling facility.

Across the road from the stable yards, a wagon driver leaned against his rig. The burly Colovian looked to be waiting for the Imperial Trading Company to open. Neither the office nor the warehouse was yet open for business.

Ras'Dar's ears were twitching as he looked back toward those two rows of houses situated on the left-hand side in the crook of the southern city wall. A couple of people were just leaving that area, headed for the small crop fields just over the other side of those houses.

Something about that struck the diminutive Suthay as slightly odd. The only direct comparison he could really make was Skingrad. Aside from the people that ran the Grateful Pass Stables, everyone else lived inside the city walls. Back in Elsweyr, in his hometown of Dune, all the citizens also lived inside the outer city walls. It was much the same down in Orcrest. Even in Riverhold, though that city didn't have the same sort of walls, everybody lived above the fortified gateway at the base of the city. The only exception was that Imperial garrison that housed those soldiers that were permitted to assist the caravans as part of the trade agreement between the Empire and Riverhold's Queen.

The Khajiit's curiosity was given voice. "Ras'Dar does not understand. Why is it that these ones are made to live outside the tall walls?"

Alex spoke up with the short version. "There is not enough room left inside the walls."

Monika elaborated. "Chorrol started to get crowded about thirty years back. Just before the new Emperor." She waved a hand back toward the houses on the left. "Most of this came along after that thing with the flying city, just a few years back. Some of the refugees from Cheydinhal stayed here, instead of going back."

Ras'Dar frowned. "Khajiit has read some things of that. A flying city from the worlds of the Daedra and the raising of dead things, yes?"

Monika replied. "Yeah, something like that. I didn't actually see it."

Loran remained quiet. Of those seven present, he was the only one to have seen those things up close. That was back when he was serving with the Twelfth Legion and still a younger soldier. Provided nobody else brought it up, he was perfectly content with not talking about any of it.

The group continued onward, passing the local office and warehouse of the Imperial Trading Company and the stable yards on the right hand side. They soon reached The Black Road. To the right, that road headed up toward the high country. The only things in that direction were a few farms and the Battlehorn Castle estate. To the left, that was the main thoroughfare between Chorrol and the Imperial City.

Just near that intersection, the familiar sight of those ruins of that old Oblivion Gate came into view. Rising from the remains of the base of an old stone tower, two jagged spires still stood as a reminder of that time when those gateways to Oblivion appeared across all of Tamriel nearly fifty years before. Those blackened spires still featured the blood red colouring about the jagged points at the top. Even after all that time, no plants grew about the base of those dark spires. During the Oblivion Crisis, that gate was the one that threatened Chorrol directly. The Champion of Cyrodiil was said to be the one responsible for closing that gateway.

None of that actually came up in conversation that morning. Ras'Dar had already asked all about it when he'd arrived at Chorrol for the first time just a couple of days before. All the others already knew all of that.

Even though Maplewood hadn't actually seen that particular ruined gateway before, she'd seen plenty of other ones and she was well aware of what happened with Chorrol all those years ago. In fact, her own hometown of Kvatch had fared far worse during that time.

With the Daedric creatures pouring out of the gateway that opened up right by the city gates of Kvatch, that city had been laid to ruin during the waves of assault. Many of the citizens had perished and much of the city ravaged by fire. It took some years for that Colovian city to be rebuilt to something that reflected its former state. Of course, all of that was well before Rena's time.

The Guild Fighters continued onward along The Black Road toward the south. The morning calls of birds still rang out from the trees as they followed the road. Some idle conversation passed as they marched southward. Of course, the topic of the weather soon came up.

It had been quite cool around dawn that morning. However, Forester had noted the morning was already warming up rather quickly. He thought that it seemed rather more like late summer, than mid autumn.

Loran added his own comment, suggesting that the days did still seem rather warm for that time of year. He thought that it seemed even more out of place, given that it was the first day of Frostfall.

Odiil offered his own thoughts. With a tone of irony, he suggested that it might be a few weeks before there was any chance of any morning frosts that year.

Alex expressed his own feelings. He mentioned that he quite liked the warmer weather of County Chorrol. He mentioned that it was usually much cooler and wetter around Falkreath at that time of year. He added that it was not even that unusual to see snow at any time from the month of Hearthfire onward. It all depended upon the prevailing winds.

Soon enough, they'd arrived just outside the Weynon Priory settlement. Even from that distance, the tall walls of Chorrol could still be clearly seen.

Pausing by the old stone well by the front of the priory house, Forester, Maplewood and Ras'Dar offered their brief farewells. Wishes for good luck were exchanged and the Skingrad group then continued onward for the Odiil Farms settlement.

* * *

><p>Monika led her group though the main passage at Weynon Priory. On the left, there was a small farmhouse just near the roadside. Just next to that, was the main priory house and the small chapel was situated just next to that on the right. That chapel looked a bit like the larger temple back in Chorrol, only perhaps just a quarter of the size.<p>

The lesser roadway passed through an archway beneath the upper level of the priory house. That passage passed through the rest of the settlement behind those more prominent structures at the front. A small graveyard lined the far side of the chapel. Sheep were penned in a field on one side with the stabling facilities on the other. There were just another couple of farmhouses in that settlement at the back.

Though he didn't dally too much, Alex took note of the crop fields at the back of the settlement. It seemed that some of those fields were laying fallow, but not all of them. "That must be the last crop of the season."

Young Vinnus assumed that the comment was directed at him, since he was the only other one from a farming background. "Yeah, I expect so. Those potatoes will probably need to come up before the first frost."

Still casting an eye over the field, Alex nodded. "Yes, that sounds right. Those cabbages and leeks would probably be okay with light frost."

Vinnus seemed to agree with that. "Yeah, they would be, but they'll probably be harvested before that."

Monika cast a short glance toward Alex and Vinnus. She didn't say anything, but it was obvious that she wanted them turn their attention toward where they were headed.

Janus Loran didn't seem at all interested in vegetable crops. He was looking off toward the north. At the far side of the settlement, that lesser road veered off in that northerly direction. Further along, it joined to The Orange Road not all that far from the eastern walls of Chorrol. Presumably, Montrose would be leading his own group through that area by about that time. Of course, that was too far away to see.

Clearing the last of those crop fields, the four Guild Fighters left the road and headed eastward for the forest. Not all that far from the settlement, the land dropped off steeply into the forest below. In fact, further down that hillside the ground appeared to drop away out of view. It looked like something more akin to a lightly vegetated cliff-face.

In a slightly wary tone, Loran noted that terrain immediately ahead. "That looks a bit too steep."

Monika spoke up. "Yeah, it is." She gestured with her hand, indicating another direction. "We're heading south for a bit to make our way down there."

Alex and Vinnus already knew what she meant. The last time they'd been there, they'd skirted along the outer edge of the forest to take an easier path down the hillsides.

The better part of an hour passed by as they made their way down the lightly wooded slopes toward the more heavily wooded parts of The Great Forest. Aside from just a few taller oaks and pines, the trees and bushes on those hills hardly seemed to qualify as forest.

Off toward the south, a few thicker copses punctuated the sparser woodlands across the hills in that direction. Not too far beyond those hills, but out of direct view, was the location of the Odiil Farms settlement. Of course, that's where Forester and his comrades were headed.

Looking down toward the main part of the forest, Janus Loran passed an idle comment. "Y'know, they say that during the previous era, the forest wasn't really as thick as that around these parts."

Vinnus Odiil offered his own thoughts. "I heard that back during the early eras, the forest used to be so thick that some stories called it a jungle." He wasn't actually sure of what a jungle might look like, but he figured that it must mean a really thick forest.

Loran agreed casually. "Yeah, I'd heard things like that too."

Looking off toward the south, Vinnus had another thought. "From what my grandfather used to tell me, there'd been a whole lot of over-clearing over the years. Especially along The Black Road."

"Mmm." Loran nodded in agreement as he followed the younger lad's eye. His gaze then shifted from those thinner woodlands to the south. He looked back across the canopy of thicker forestation to the east, again noting the marked difference.

It was relatively common knowledge that a great deal of the excessive harvesting of the forest took place during the reign of Emperor Pelagius IV and that of the Empress who immediately preceded him. Apparently, that activity only eased up a fair bit during the latter part of the reign of Uriel Septim VII, the last of the Septim Emperors.

Back then, during the time of some of those Emperors, the Imperial Foresters had been something else altogether. For a time, a portion of the Legion was actually involved in the lumber trade on behalf of the Empire. Looking back, that seemed a little strange.

Though to be fair, after the Oblivion Crisis, a portion of the Legion had been deployed to assist with that sort of thing during the rebuilding of Kvatch. A similar sort of thing occurred more recently with Cheydinhal, after the damage to that city in the wake of that incident with the flying city and the army of walking dead.

In passing, Loran idly wondered whether one of Forester's forbears was a Legion Forester or perhaps just a traditional Forester. He supposed that he might be able to find out, since he knew people who knew people. He shook off that silly thought. After all, he could just ask Forester directly, the next time that he saw him.

Looking across those forested areas below, the effects of more than fifty years of reduced clearing could be imagined. He didn't really know what it looked like back then, but the main part of The Great Forest did look untouched. He could almost see where the clearing must have been halted. There was a kind of mismatch in the height and density of foliage. Toward the outer edge of the thicker parts of the forest, though some of the pines were taller, there were a lot of shorter oaks challenging the shrubs growing in their shadows. Even about that outer edge of forestation, there seemed clear evidence of the gradual reclamation of the grassy shrub-lands for the forest.

Finally approaching the woodlands below those hills, Loran had been trying to gauge the distance that they needed to cover through the forest. Of course, he held a good idea of how long it took to make the same relative journey by the roads. He tried to estimate how much longer it might take through that kind of country.

The former soldier gave voice to his thoughts. "I was just thinking. At a guess, I think we could most likely get to the Ayleid ruins of Lindai in a single day."

Alex responded. "Last year, we actually made it there and back in one day."

Vinnus adjusted that statement. "It was dark by the time we got back from that."

"That's not what we're doing." Monika's voice carried a firm tone.

She'd already gone over all that the previous day. They wouldn't be following any direct line toward that destination. Their path would see them crisscrossing their way through the forest on the search for goblins. As she'd already suggested, with the rise and fall of the terrain through the heavily wooded forest, as well as resting during the evenings, it would probably take about three or four days before they actually neared those old ruins.

As the team of four Guild Fighters proceeded into the forest, Monika made a point of drawing the attention of the others. She didn't really need to tell Alex anything. Normally, even Vinnus wouldn't require any reminders, but he'd been notably distracted by the influence of the newest member of their group.

Shifting her bow to her left hand, she spoke in a soft voice, but with a commanding tone. "We oughta try to be quiet from here. I want everybody to keep your eyes and ears sharp for trouble. Be ready for anything. Goblins or otherwise."

Alex's silent expression indicated his clear understanding. He already had his elven bow in hand.

Young Vinnus responded with a short nod, also unslinging his bow from his back and taking hold of it in a fashion that displayed his preparedness.

Loran sensed that Monika's glance seemed to linger upon him a little longer than upon the other two. "Yes, stay sharp. Got it." He made a point of taking up his bow, just like the others.

So far, aside from the occasional rabbit droppings by some bushes, there had been few signs of local wildlife. The sporadic noises from unseen birds in the forest were the only other indication of what was out there.

They held no idea of exactly where they might encounter any goblins in those woodlands. They could be just ahead or they might not even see any until they neared those old Ayleid ruins. Either thing was equally possible.

Even so, there were many other potential dangers that might be lurking in those thicker parts of The Great Forest. Just about anything from wolves to forest trolls was a fair possibility. They needed to remain properly alert for whatever came up.

Monika pointed with her bow in a vaguely easterly direction and they headed into the heavily forested woodlands.

~O~


	11. Chapter 11

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 11

Fredas the 1st of Frostfall 4E49 Afternoon

Malcolm Forester pushed the stopper back into his water flask before putting it back into his bag. He glanced up toward the sky briefly, noting that the sun had just reached its apex in the sky. "Well, I suppose that we'd best be moving along."

"Mmm." Rena Maplewood murmured her agreement as she sipped from her own flask. She'd been looking off toward the forested hills to the north. In passing, she was just thinking that Monika's team would have been somewhere off in that direction, not that she expected to see any of them through the forest.

Ras'Dar was already poised and ready to head off again. He'd been casting a sharp eye in the direction of the woodlands to the east, immediately below the hillside. Beyond the line of the younger forest growth just ahead, the thicker forestation put him in mind of those woodlands of the northeastern corner of Elsweyr, near the border with Valenwood.

The three Guild Fighters had stopped for a short rest at the back of the fields behind the Odiil Farms settlement. They had actually expected to reach that point somewhat earlier than that. However, there had been an unexpected diversion along the way.

Earlier that morning, the road had remained notably quiet after leaving the vicinity of the Weynon Priory settlement. They hadn't even encountered any of those ambling Legion riders patrolling the road. It was fair to expect that a patrol would've been along that stretch of road sooner or later. That was just a matter of timing. It was also likely that the wagon driver they'd seen back at Chorrol would've been coming along behind them at some point.

As they were marching down The Black Road, just along that downhill stretch between The Hackdirt Road and Odiil Farms, their attention had been drawn toward specific noises emanating from the woods by the western side of the road.

Beneath the taller pines and oaks, there was quite a lot of thick underbrush amongst the smaller trees. That made it a bit difficult to see very far in that direction. Added to that, they were actually meant to be heading in the opposite direction. However, those noises were not unfamiliar to them. It sounded just like goblins.

Rather than stumbling into the thicker bushes, Rena banged on her shield with the pommel of her blade to draw attention as they all held back by the roadside. Neither Forester nor Ras'Dar added any extra noise, but they stood ready to act.

As expected, all that shield banging worked well enough. Two goblins came out from the bushes brandishing rusty blades and crudely fashioned shields. Both of them looked to be those lesser sized kind of goblins. Nothing like some of those larger and even more dangerous types. At that point, there appeared to be just the two of them.

Of course, those two goblins were dispatched easily enough. The greater concern was that there might well be more of them nearby, just out of view, but on their way toward the ruckus. However, that didn't seem to be the case.

After just a brief wait to be sure that nothing else was coming, they dragged the bodies off into the forest a short way, through those bushes among the taller trees. They'd deposited the carcasses well away from the road. Of course, leaving them near to the roadside would only attract other predators and scavengers.

Before leaving that area, Forester had expressed some concern that those goblins appeared to be headed in the direction of Hackdirt. Of course, he was likely more concerned that others might be headed near to Brindle Home, further to the south.

Rena gently reminded him that the current priority was the territory on the eastern side of the Black Road. She added that once the number of goblins had been well reduced in that part of the forest, there'd be a lot less chance of more goblins turning up around any of the populated settlements.

Ras'Dar had paid attention to the exchange, but chose not to weigh in at all, deferring to his superiors. He was perfectly aware of what they were meant to be doing. He didn't really expect that Forester was seriously suggesting anything different from that.

Soon enough, the trio of Skingrad Guild Fighters returned to the main road and then continued onward to the Odill Farms settlement.

It was late in the morning by the time that they passed by the houses and fields of that small settlement. Odiil Farms was set well back from the main road. It wasn't really much in the way of a settlement. Not even enough to really qualify as a village. There were just three farmhouses and some farm sheds. It was just enough to accommodate the extended Odiil family and the hired hands. The farm ran some livestock and there were a few large crop fields that reached toward the edge of the forest.

Given that a few hours had passed since setting off from Chorrol, Maplewood suggested that they take a brief rest before going down into the forest. Ras'Dar didn't seem to mind either way, but Forester was glad to take a short while before continuing onward.

* * *

><p>As Forester's team headed off down the slope toward the forest, Ras'Dar's eyes had been drawn toward the tall dead trees rising from a clearing of sorts to the south of their position. It was a fair way off, but three darkened trunks stood out above the lesser growth below. They looked like they'd been scorched, but not burned through. That might have been the reason behind why those dead trunks remained standing. The Khajiit knew of a similar kind of thing that was used to harden wooden shields.<p>

Forester noticed that the diminutive Suthay had been staring at those dead trees. He advised Ras'Dar that the ruins of another Oblivion Gate were at that location.

Ras'Dar accepted that without question. He recalled seeing that location marked on those maps. He also understood that the Fort Ash settlement had to be not all that far beyond in the same direction. Of course, he couldn't actually see the old fort from there. However, it wasn't too difficult to guess where it was. The land rose up to some moderately wooded hillsides in that direction. The fort was most likely just beyond those trees.

The trio of Guild Fighters continued onward into the forest, maintaining an appropriate measure of caution and alertness. Passing through the bushy undergrowth about the shorter trees near the edge of the woodlands, they soon found themselves among the much taller pines and oaks of the older growth of The Great Forest.

The dappled sunlight filtered down through the forest canopy above, casting much of the path in soft shadow. Few bushes or smaller trees grew in the well-shaded parts of that heavier woodland. Almost no grasses grew, but short ferns sprouted here and there. Most of the ground was covered in a carpet of fallen leaves. Fallen logs added to the many obstacles, providing ideal fuel for a variety of mushrooms and other fungi.

Aside from the occasional noises of some unseen forest birds, nothing of note had brought any immediate cause for alarm. The only other living things that they'd actually seen had been a large beetle on a log and a trail of ants marching in formation up the side of a tree trunk. Other than the shifting of the leafy branches far above, the only other movement seemed to be those three Guild Fighters.

After almost an hour of cautiously moving through the shaded forest, Ras'Dar paused unexpectedly, readying his bow. Maplewood noticed immediately, also pausing in place. It took just a short moment for Forester to note that the other two had stopped.

Forester looked back to the Khajiit. Glancing about with a furrowed brow, he spoke quietly. "Do you see something? Or hear something?"

Ras'Dar shook his head just slightly. His feline shaped ears were flattened back a little. "This one smells something. You can smell it, yes?"

Still frowning, Forester's eyes darted about.

Rena wrinkled her nose. "No, I can't smell anything unusual."

"Ras'Dar is certain that something dead is very near."

Neither Forester nor Maplewood could smell what the Khajiit's keen senses could detect, but they didn't doubt him. A healthy measure of caution remained in place as Ras'Dar followed his nose in search of the source of the bad smell.

Before too long, he found what he was looking for. By then, each of them could clearly smell it. It was further away than Forester or Maplewood might have expected, but not so far by Ras'Dar's reckoning.

The source of the terrible smell was on the ground behind a fallen tree trunk. Flies were still buzzing about the partially eaten remains of a smaller sized bear. Wriggling maggots were making a slow meal of the decomposing carcass. From the look of it, that thing had probably been there for the better part of a month or perhaps longer.

Given the state of that mess, Ras'Dar wasn't able to settle upon what might have killed the bear. In the absence of any other physical evidence, he concluded that it was most likely another animal of some sort.

Forester agreed, suggesting that goblins would have been more likely to have taken the whole thing, or at the least, cut away much more of it to take away with them.

Rena noted that forest trolls often dragged away their kills, taking them back to their nests. She didn't think that spot really looked like that sort of thing.

Ras'Dar's observations seemed to support each of those observations. It didn't really look like a goblin kill or the work of a forest troll. Still, he could not see any animal droppings in the immediate vicinity. He also thought that leaving the carcass where it fell without taking more of it seemed just a little unusual.

Forester postulated that whatever it was that took down the bear, it might have been unexpectedly interrupted and unable to return. With nothing to suggest otherwise, that seemed as good an explanation as any other.

Though that bear carcass was not something recent, it served as a good reminder to keep out a sharp eye for predators in the forest.

More than an hour passed by before something else drew attention. A sudden noise placed them on alert. It sounded vaguely like something close to the noises that some goblins made when they were chattering away among themselves. However, in that case it turned out to be something else. It seemed that a crow had come down from above and was sitting upon a low hanging branch making a low cackling noise that almost mimicked goblin chatter.

Not too long after they'd been startled by that crow, Ras'Dar stopped unexpectedly in place once more. Before either of the other two were able to voice any sort of query, the Khajiit bent down to poke at something among the ferns with the end of his bow. It sounded like he'd found something metallic with the bow. With a flicking movement, an object came rolling out of the cluster of ferns into the open. It looked like an old steel helmet.

Ras'Dar studied the object for a brief moment before looking up. "Helmet looks familiar, yes?"

Forester responded. "Well, I'd say it looks like the helmet of a Legion soldier."

Rena chimed in. "From the look of it, that could have been there for years." She glanced about for signs of anything else.

Forester agreed. "Yes, I'd say so. Quite a bit of rust on it."

Ras'Dar took a few moments to look about a bit more. He soon found a bone from a human leg, then some bones still protruding from an old Legion boot. Near the base of a tall pine, there was a larger pile of scattered bones. Not enough to represent a full skeleton, but a significant proportion of one. The rest of the armour was nowhere to be seen.

Ras'Dar had pointed out the teeth marks on many of the bones. That was fair indication that an animal had eaten the remains, though not necessarily responsible for the death of the soldier in the first place.

Rena had again suggested that it must have happened a long time ago.

Forester held no argument with that. Still, he couldn't imagine a good reason for a Legion soldier to have been that far out in the forest. He postulated that the soldier's body had been dragged there from somewhere nearer to the road. He conceded that it didn't really look like a typical troll's nest. However, the circumstances did fit the description of forest troll behaviour. Added to that, it must have occurred some years ago.

In any case, as Rena suggested, investigating those old bones wasn't the reason that they were out there. There wasn't anything about to identify those partial remains and it had to have been from many years before.

The three Skingrad Guild Fighters continued onward through the forest. Their path took them southward for a while. Eventually nearing the vicinity of the ruins of that old Oblivion gateway, they turned and headed back in a northerly direction, doing their best to cover as much of heavily wooded area as possible.

Though they didn't appear to be finding indication of goblins in the area, later in the afternoon, they came across a location that Forester took some interest in. It was just a small clearing under the forest canopy. It was framed by a small rocky outcrop on one side with a large freestanding boulder on the other.

Since there was no indication of any creatures using it recently, Forester suggested that Ras'Dar take note of the location. If no better spot presented itself, he thought that place would be an ideal spot to camp for the evening.

* * *

><p>Monika Northwind's team of Guild Fighters had been in The Great Forest since much earlier in the day. By late afternoon, the day had proved rather tiring, but not necessarily for any reason that they'd been anticipating.<p>

Those four had been more or less on the move for most of the day since leaving Chorrol behind. The team had stopped only briefly around midday to take a short rest and nibble from their rations before continuing onward. Alex had passed around some fresh pears that he had in his pack. That ripened fruit had the added bonus of quenching thirstiness just a bit.

Other than when they'd actually stopped for a proper rest around noon, they'd paused only in passing to take sips from their water flasks from time to time.

As they cautiously crisscrossed their way through the thick woodlands, they'd spotted various signs of assorted wildlife, but no goblins. For that matter, not even any observable sign of goblins at all.

Though remaining alert to possible threats, most of what they'd encountered hadn't been dangerous at all. There were plenty of insects and birds. A ground pheasant made a noisy exit as it ran off into the underbrush at their approach. At one point, a startled fox took off in a similar fashion.

Around mid-afternoon, they came across the remains of a medium sized wolf by the base of a tall oak. The soft parts of the carcass had been eaten, leaving the rest of it behind. It didn't seem to be a fresh kill, perhaps a couple of weeks old. From appearances, it seemed like the work of another animal.

Less than half an hour later, Janus Loran managed to find some animal shit with his boot. It didn't seem so fresh, but fresh enough that it hadn't yet dried out.

With some measure of passing amusement, young Vinnus Odiil had pointed out that it looked like it was from a bear, adding that after all, they were in the woods.

As he was still scraping it from his boot, it took Loran just a moment to follow the obvious reference. He couldn't help but share a chuckle with the younger lad.

Alex had been suppressing his own instinct to join in as Monika chastised those other two, reminding them to remain quiet, alert and on task. She further reminded them that the whole team needed to be sharp and ready to act if they actually encountered something like a bear in the woods.

Throughout the remainder of the afternoon, the four Guild Fighters continued moving back and forth through the heavily wooded terrain. There were no well-worn paths to follow and various obstacles prevented travelling in anything that resembled straight lines. Various hollows and small clearings looked like the kinds of places that might attract certain types of creatures to make use of them. Some of those places looked like typical locations where forest trolls might nest or roaming goblins might camp. However in each case, they found no signs of any such thing.

Of course, there were animal droppings here and there all through the woodlands, but nothing that pointed to goblins passing through the area. That didn't mean that those signs weren't there. Only that they hadn't actually spotted them. After all, they knew full well that goblins had been moving somewhere through that area over the past year. Those stray goblins that found their way to the Weynon Priory and Odill Farms settlements had to have passed through that general area.

With the hour of the day growing fairly late, Monika redirected their path through the forest, with a view toward finding a place to set up camp for the evening. From a location toward the northern extent of the area they'd been trying to cover, she led them in around in an arc that took them back toward the west a little.

Monika held a good idea of where she was headed, as they circled back around toward a spot that she'd considered much earlier. Alex already knew what she had in mind. The other two just followed along behind.

Eventually, they'd arrived at that destination. It was a relatively clear area just near the base of that cliff face that they'd observed from above much earlier in the day. In a direct line, that location was not all that far from the back of the Weynon Priory settlement. However, because of the near vertical terrain, it was effectively further away by any direct line of travel.

Of course, that area near the base of the cliff face did actually make for an ideal place to set camp. The ground was fairly level there. Between patches of grass, there was a lot of sandy gravel. If was fair to assume that run-off from above during wetter weather was the reason for that.

Provided there wasn't any unexpected subsidence, nothing of concern would be likely to be coming down from the steep incline above. That meant just keeping an eye out on the other three sides. Beyond the edge of the clearing, the forest was relatively thick to both the north and east. On the southern side, that transition from shrubs and smaller trees to the taller forest was a bit more gradual.

By that time, the daylight was fading quickly. Obscured by the higher land, the sun had disappeared from view some time before. Even if they were up on higher ground, the sun would have been setting in the west by that time.

It was a fair assumption that Masser was already up in the east. However from that position, the tall trees of the forest blocked the view in that direction. That moon was near to full, but it wouldn't be visible until it was much higher in the sky. By then, Secunda would probably be up in the night sky as well, but it was only presenting as a slender crescent at that time.

By Monika's reasonable reckoning, it would be fine to have a small campfire at that location. There wasn't any great concern of starting a forest fire from that clearing. Added to that, the woodlands were still notably green from those recent rains of a few weeks earlier.

They didn't actually need a fire for any cooking and it wouldn't be particularly cool until the early hours of the morning. Nevertheless, a small campfire would be enough to deter lesser animals and other such creatures. Still, she wanted that fire to stay low enough that it didn't attract the attention of other more ambitious predators that might be further afield.

After collecting some dry wood and getting a low fire burning, the four Guild Fighters sat about and had something to eat from their rations.

Loran showed young Vinnus how lightly roasting dried meat over the flames made it a bit more palatable. He mentioned that it was something that he picked up in the Legion. It was the kind of thing they'd do when they were out on manoeuvres without the usual support.

Monika seemed to be paying more attention to the dark tree line than the staggered conversation between Loran and Vinnus. Of course, they did need to keep a look out for any trouble coming their way.

Even so, it didn't seem like there was any trouble nearby. Aside from the gentle rustling of tree branches in a light breeze and the distant noises of bats somewhere in the forest, it seemed fairly quiet.

As he attended to his own requirements, Alex saw to it that Monika had something to eat, making up a mix of things from both her rations and his own.

A short time later, sitting near the fire, Janus Loran passed an idle comment. "I thought we'd be seeing some goblins today." He sounded slightly disappointed.

Vinnus jumped in with a response. "Well, we know they're out there… somewhere."

Loran nodded in a non-committal fashion.

Alex posed a question out loud. "I wonder how the other teams are doing?"

Monika shrugged. "I'm sure they're doing fine. Couldn't say whether they're having any better luck with finding goblins, but they'll get the job done."

Looking off toward the south, Alex voiced another thought. "Forester's group would be somewhere in that direction."

Monika looked off in the same direction. "They could be just past the next hill and we probably wouldn't know."

Alex accepted that with a silent nod.

Janus Loran's gaze flickered briefly between Monika and Alex. "You two both know Forester fairly well?"

Monika responded. "We've worked together a few times."

"On Fighters Guild jobs?" Loran prompted.

"Yeah, contracts."

Loran nodded. "What about Maplewood?"

Alex answered. "We only met her earlier this year. Back in First Seed."

"Forester knew her before that." Monika added that comment, passing a brief sideways glance in Alex's direction.

Alex picked up on something in her expression. He took it as a prompt to leave private matters out of the discussion. Aside from keeping that particular secret of his own fairly quiet, he did tend to be a little too open about other things at times.

Loran interrupted the lengthy pause. "What about that cat, Ras'Dar?"

Monika answered. "First met him about this time last year. He's been with the Guild in Skingrad since then. He's an excellent tracker and good with the bow."

Loran nodded thoughtfully. "I got the impression that he came from Elsweyr and that he hadn't been in Cyrodiil all that long. Seems a bit enthusiastic, but I wasn't sure what to make of him."

Monika looked back to Loran. His expression was hard to read by the flickering campfire. "Yeah well, Ras'Dar is okay. He got into some trouble back in Elsweyr. Not with the law. Some bad people came after him. Wrong place at the wrong time. All of that's well behind him now. According to Forester, the Fighters Guild is a good fit for him."

Young Vinnus shifted with a start, raising his hand toward the eastern sky. "Did you see that?"

All heads turned to follow his gaze, but there was nothing to see.

Alex spoke first. "What was it?"

Vinnus hesitated. "Ah… a bright flash in the sky."

"A falling star?" Loran suggested.

Vinnus was still looking to the sky. "I'm not sure. It was too quick and I wasn't looking that way. Not exactly. I just caught the bright flash."

"Up in the sky?" Monika prompted.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Had to be a falling star, then." Loran repeated the suggestion with a shrug.

Monika seemed to agree. "Had to be. Didn't make any noise. So it mustn't have hit the ground. Either that, or it was a long way off. I'd be more worried if it was something else."

"Something else." Alex sounded curious.

Monika shrugged. "Something from a mage or something like that."

Alex kept looking toward the part of the sky that Vinnus had indicated. "Forester could be somewhere in that direction."

Monika shrugged again. "He wouldn't be firing off flashes of light into the sky. I wouldn't think so, anyway. It would've just been a falling star."

Even though he remained somewhat concerned, Alex tried to accept the more obvious explanation for what Vinnus had seen. After all, falling stars in the skies were not all that uncommon.

Drawing everyone's attention back to the matter at hand, Monika outlined the plan for the next day. That wasn't anything unexpected. It just involved more crisscrossing the forest, gradually making their way further eastward. She reminded everyone that she intended to be ready to head out shortly after the dawn.

Masser was just clearing the tops of the trees to the east by the time they were getting ready turn in for the night. As agreed, young Vinnus Odiil would be taking the first watch of the evening. Monika wasn't necessarily expecting any trouble at that location, but she wasn't taking anything for granted. After a couple of hours, Loran would get back up and take over for the second watch. Monika intended to take the third watch and Alex would be taking the pre-dawn watch.

After everyone had attended to immediate needs behind the bushes, Vinnus settled into position to keep a watch out as the other three settled in to get some rest.

It was not all that long before midnight, when young Vinnus managed to wake everyone else for what soon turned out to be a false alarm.

The Odiil lad had managed to keep his cool as two small bats had swooped by the campsite a couple of times. However, he'd soon become alarmed by the combination of screeching sounds and a large pair of glowing eyes in the darkness just nearby. He'd decided that it might have been a goblin or some other dangerous forest creature heading their way and raised the alarm.

Despite his brief panic, it just turned out to be an owl stalking the bats or perhaps just after the same insects. The screeching noises were obviously from the bats and the glowing eyes belonged to the owl perched upon a low hanging branch.

Since Loran was already up and Vinnus was becoming way too jumpy, the former Legionnaire decided to take over for the second watch of the evening. It was nearly that time anyway. With just a touch of unnecessary sarcasm, Loran advised that he'd try to keep the bats and night birds at bay until the next watch.

After taking a leak near a tree by the edge of camp, Vinnus tried to settle in for some rest as Monika and Alex went back to sleep.

~O~


	12. Chapter 12

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 12

Loredas the 2nd of Frostfall 4E49

Monika stirred as she felt a hand upon her shoulder. It took her just a moment to realise exactly where she was. She'd been asleep on Alex's bedroll in a clearing in The Great Forest, but he wasn't there under the blanket with her. She quickly remembered that he was keeping watch over the camp. It was his hand that woke her. There was nothing urgent in his touch. Nonetheless, she blinked her eyes open and rolled over to face him.

"No trouble?" Monika mumbled with a croaky voice.

"No trouble." Alex spoke with a calm and reassuring tone.

Monika looked about through bleary eyes. It seemed that the sun had not yet risen above the distant Valus Mountains in the east, but there was plenty of light to see by. It was probably less than half an hour before the dawn. The light breezes of the previous evening were absent in the still of the early morning. The air felt a little cool, but not too cold. It still seemed unusually warm for that late in the year.

Sitting up, Monika took a few moments to shake off her sleepiness. Anticipating what she might have suggested next, Alex had already made a move toward waking the other two.

Looking over toward the edge of the dense woodland, Monika noted a subtle mist hovering just above the ground. Off toward the south, she could see some much heavier fog already starting to rise above the tops of the trees in the distance.

Turning to look about toward the north, she observed some slow moving high cloud cover coming down from the Jerall Mountains. The clouds were drifting from the northwest, headed in a generally southerly direction. It didn't really look like rain. It was too high and too insubstantial.

In passing, Alex had casually mentioned that he caught a glimpse of another shooting star during the early hours before the dawn. Because he actually saw it for himself on that particular occasion, he was reasonably certain of what it was.

Monika acknowledged the comment, but wasn't terribly concerned. The occasional shooting star in the night sky wasn't really anything out of the ordinary.

Once everybody in the group was up, had attended to immediate matters behind the bushes and taken the time to have something from their rations, they set about breaking camp to be off on their way.

By the time that they'd buried the remains of the small campfire and were ready to go, that light mist near the ground had already started rising up over the trees and was beginning to melt away under the morning sunlight. Even though they couldn't quite see the sun over the trees, it had obviously risen in the east by then.

The morning calls of unseen birds rang out though the forest. Other than those four Guild Fighters, that seemed to be the only other sign of life in the immediate area.

Monika took up her bow and pointed toward the east, then they started heading back into the woodlands.

Loran and Odiil passed her as she paused a moment to look down at a cluster of ferns just near the edge of the clearing.

Alex noticed what seemed to have drawn her attention. It looked a bit different from the more common ferns of the forest. That plant had a couple of long stalks growing up from the centre with long dried out bulbs at the end. Those bulbs looked like they'd already dropped their seeds. "Is that one of the plants that Florence had mentioned to you?"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I think so. Somnalius." Her friend at Chorrol's College of Whispers had asked her to keep an eye out for a few things in the forest. That was one of them.

Alex kneeled down to examine the plant. "Should we…?"

Monika hesitated, glancing toward Loran and Odiil. "Yeah, alright. Loran, hold up a moment." She turned back to Alex. "No, no. Not the bulbs. Just the fern leaves and take just a few of them. We don't wanna kill the plant."

Alex proceeded to cut away four long fronds from the plant. That was probably less than a quarter of the whole thing. Monika's silent nod confirmed that was enough. He gathered up those fronds and found a suitable side-pocket in Monika's pack to store them.

Loran took some interest in what they were doing. "Is that stuff valuable?"

Monika wrinkled her nose. "Not really. Not unless you're an alchemist. Even then, more useful than valuable."

The former Legionnaire returned a questioning glance.

Monika responded with a slight shrug. "Friends at the College of Whispers."

Loran nodded and looked away. He didn't seem to hold any further interest.

Taking the lead again, Monika and Alex stepped ahead of the other two and they continued onward into the woods in search of goblins.

* * *

><p>Just before the dawn, Ras'Dar woke Forester and Maplewood. He'd been keeping watch through the last part of the hours of darkness. He'd found no reason for alarm during his pre-dawn vigil. Certainly, the Khajiit would have heard various things at some distance from the camp, but apparently nothing that presented any immediate threat.<p>

The previous evening, the three Guild Fighters had returned to that spot that Forester had taken note of during the afternoon to make camp. Of course, Ras'Dar had no trouble at all finding it again just before it started grow dark. In fact, he probably could have found it just as easily by dim moonlight.

By the time that the evening had started to grow late, they'd already sorted the arrangement of who'd be keeping each watch during the hours of darkness. Rena stayed up for the first watch, later waking Forester for the second watch. Ras'Dar actually wanted to take the early morning watch. Neither of the other two objected at all.

Once Forester and Maplewood were both up, the Khajiit mentioned that he'd seen a second light in the sky just a few hours before dawn. There had already been a conversation the previous evening after observing that first streak of light that briefly dashed across the sky, ending in a bright flash well short of reaching the ground. Just like the first one, that second trail of light had winked out in the sky somewhere over the trees in the distance.

During that discussion of the previous evening, Ras'Dar had used a rather colourful term for shooting stars. He'd referred to them as 'tears of the Mother Cat'.

That unique sounding reference had sparked Rena's curiosity, but the diminutive Suthay remained rather reluctant to elaborate upon what he'd described as 'the lessons of the clan mothers'.

Forester seemed to know something about that, if only a little. He'd suggested that Khajiit beliefs included a deity similar to the Divine Mara, sometimes referred to as the 'Mother Cat'. He also believed that the 'clan mothers' of the Khajiit passed on their spiritual teachings only by word of mouth.

In response, Ras'Dar had only nodded slightly, adding nothing more.

Rena didn't know anything at all about Khajiit beliefs, but that sounded like an acceptable explanation. Of course, she'd seen plenty of shooting stars before. Though she'd never actually seen any make landfall, she had heard that they sometimes did make it all the way down to the ground as sky-stones. That was about all she knew on the subject.

Forester had a bit more to say about it. He'd learned a thing or two about those matters during his time with the Synod, back before he ended up with the Fighters Guild. He'd started going on about how there were some shooting stars that were large enough make landfall as meteoric iron or glass. As he understood it, falling stars that contained iron were far more common than those comprised of meteoric glass. He'd mentioned that both types were generally imbued with magicka from the heavens. He'd also noted that old Ayleid wells like that one just near Brindle Home had been constructed with materials from those kind of Aetherial Fragments.

With a wink directed at Ras'Dar, Rena had suggested that she rather preferred the sound of 'tears of the Mother Cat' to Aetherial Fragments.

Aside from Ras'Dar mentioning that he'd seen that second light in the sky before the dawn, there was no more talk of it that morning.

Once they'd attended to immediate concerns and then broken camp, the three Skingrad Guild Fighters readied themselves and set off into the woodlands again.

Though they remained fully alert to the possibility of any danger as they cut a staggered path though the forest, it remained rather quiet throughout the first part of the morning.

Of course, the occasional noise or unexpected movement caused alarm from time to time. However upon each occasion, it turned out to be nothing of great concern. It most cases, it just turned out to be a bird taking flight or else a startled ground pheasant dashing off through the underbrush.

Forester had made the observation that it seemed noteworthy that they hadn't encountered any forest rats. He reminded Rena and Ras'Dar that it might be something to do with the goblins in the area.

Of course, at those goblin camps they'd recently found near Skingrad, they'd both previously noticed that large forest rats had been harvested for roasting over cooking fires. At that time, Forester had told them that more established goblin camps commonly farmed rats like that for livestock.

At first, Rena had been just slightly surprised that goblin tribes actually kept rats in that fashion, though she imagined that it made some sort of sense. It would certainly be far less work than hunting them in the wild. She just hadn't thought that goblins were actually smart enough for that.

After cautiously traipsing through that part of The Great Forest for the next few hours, it was little later in the morning before something actually presented as a matter of concern.

It was Ras'Dar who raised the alarm. He'd stopped unexpectedly, seemingly aware of something that his two Colovian companions had yet to notice.

Of course, Forester and Maplewood had paused to look to Ras'Dar.

After a long moment, Forester spoke very quietly. "What is it?"

The Khajiit held his tongue another moment, with his ears twitching. "You can hear those noises, yes?"

Rena whispered with a frown. "No. Can't hear anything."

Ras'Dar pointed with his bow. "That way. Something approaches."

Forester shifted his head this way and that, trying to see through the trees. He kept his voice low. "I can't see anything. What do you think it is?"

"This one cannot say. Something large." Ras'Dar drew a shaft from his quiver and nocked it to his bow in preparation.

Rena already had her blade drawn and shield at the ready.

Forester also drew his sword, whispering quietly to himself as he prepared a familiar spell for his free hand.

Following the Khajiit's lead, they cautiously moved forward in the direction that he'd indicated. They didn't need to go that far before the object of Ras'Dar's alarm drew near. They could all hear it before they actually saw it. It almost sounded like a sizeable bear struggling with prey that wouldn't just fall down dead.

Soon enough, a large goblin came blundering through the underbrush between the larger trees. Aside from a ragged loincloth, it wore only an array of bones like a chest plate, strung together with strips of leather. It looked like one of those typical skirmisher type goblins, but slightly larger than usual. It was stumbling forward, waving its arms about with a rusted blade and a crudely fashioned shield.

Ras'Dar didn't hesitate at all. He fired off an arrow at the creature, striking it in the mid-section. The goblin flailed about and screeched in pain. A second arrow missed as the Khajiit prepared to launch a third.

Forester had called up a fireball. Only at the last moment, he held back. He silently cursed himself as he reconsidered the wisdom of selecting fire as his first choice of weapon in that part of the forest. Still, it was too late to change tactic by then.

Rena held back with her sword and shield for a few moments. She intended to allow Ras'Dar to soften it up with arrows before preparing to move in closer.

In that respect, the little Suthay Khajiit seemed to be doing quite well. Though a few arrows had missed the target, the goblin was already starting to look like a pincushion, with about six shafts already sticking out of it. None of the wounds seemed immediately fatal, but it was certainly struggling with the injuries.

Just as the goblin was really starting to stagger, Ras'Dar held off as both Forester and Rena moved in on either side of the creature with their blades. Just a few well-placed strikes were needed to put it down for good. If anything, it seemed just a bit too easy.

Keeping his bow at the ready, Ras'Dar had again paused in place with his ears twitching as he listened intently for anything else on the way.

Forester looked to the Khajiit with a silent question.

After just a moment, Ras'Dar shook his head. "This one cannot hear anything else coming this way."

Rena drew attention back toward the dead goblin. "Look at this." The goblin showed signs of having been scorched by something, though it didn't exactly look like fire.

Forester cleared his throat and took a closer look. "Interesting. That looks like fresh burns. Perhaps the kind that might be caused by someone with a lightning spell or the like."

Rena glanced to her husband, then leaned down to examine the creature's hideous face more closely. "It looks to me like it had been blinded."

Forester agreed with that. "Yes well, I suppose that might explain why it was stumbling about like that."

Ras'Dar had come closer to take a look for himself. He kicked at the carcass to convince himself that it was dead. "Perhaps, other Guild Fighters had fought this goblin, yes?"

Forester cleared his throat again. "Perhaps. It's not likely that Elynwen would do something this. I suppose that it could've been Suvaris." He looked off through the trees toward the south. Of course, there was nothing to be seen.

Rena passed a comment. "Suvaris' team would be a fair way off, wouldn't they?"

"Yes, I suppose so." Forester tried to estimate just far south that they'd travelled. He felt fairly certain that they hadn't gone all that far.

Ras'Dar busied himself trying to retrieve his arrows from the goblin's hide. He needed to use his knife to dig some of them out without breaking them.

Since that goblin seemed to have come from the south, at Forester's suggestion, they continued onward in that direction just a little further. As it was the first one that they'd actually found in that part of the forest, he wanted to see if there were any more nearby.

* * *

><p>It was just shortly after midday when Ras'Dar detected something else ahead of them. It wasn't immediately evident what was drawing his attention. Though all three were fully prepared to face goblins, it turned out to be something else altogether.<p>

Through the trees, Ras'Dar spotted Elynwen with her bow drawn. Temel-Za and Jaras Artellian were just behind her. It seemed that Forester's group might have travelled just a bit further southward than they'd actually thought. Either that, or Elynwen's team had travelled further north. It might have just been a bit of both.

Forester and Elynwen came together and general greetings were exchanged. Rena stood at her husband's side. Ras'Dar held back, keeping a sharp eye out for any unexpected danger. Temel-Za and Artellian held back also, though they seemed rather more casual.

After speaking of that large goblin that they'd just dealt with not too far from that location, Forester raised the obvious question. "Have you encountered any goblins nearby?"

Elynwen vaguely indicated the southern direction. "We did find some dead goblins just a short distance from here. Four of them."

Forester's expression conveyed his confusion. "You didn't kill them?"

The Bosmer allowed the hint of a grim smile to form. "No, we didn't, but I'm quite certain that we saw what did."

Rena prompted her. "What was it then?"

Elynwen raised one eyebrow. "It was a large Land Dreugh."

"Land Dreugh?" Forester sounded like he doubted her word.

The Bosmer tilted her head. "Yes. Somewhat unexpected."

Forester was still shaking his head in mild disbelief. "A Land Dreugh. I can't imagine why one of those would be so far north. That makes no sense."

Ras'Dar was obviously far more confused than everyone else, but for a wholly different reason. "This one does not understand. What is a Land Dreugh?"

Of course, everyone else knew exactly what it was. Forester offered a brief explanation. He told him that a Land Dreugh was a large creature that looked something like a cross between a giant crab and some sort of Daedric monster. As he suggested, they don't normally stray too far from water, since Dreugh are essentially water creatures that become land-going creatures for just a short time as they grow.

Rena tried to learn more about what happened with Elynwen's team. "You didn't need to take on that Land Dreugh, did you?"

The Bosmer shook her head. "No, it didn't come to that. We stood ready to fight, but it didn't see us, or else it ignored us. Better to leave it alone, anyway."

Rena nodded her silent agreement.

Elynwen continued. "I don't think it was even interested in those goblins. It looked more like they tried to take it on and ended up fried by its internal lightning. I expect that larger goblin must have managed to survive."

Forester asked the obvious question. "So, which way did it go?"

"It kept heading south." The Bosmer waved her hand in that general direction.

Forester looked off toward the south, not that he could see very far through all the trees. "Yes well, Suvaris might be off in that direction."

Elynwen tilted her head in acknowledgment. "I'm confident that he'll manage, if it comes to that. I'd expect it more likely that he'd also try to avoid any confrontation, if at all possible."

Forester nodded. "Yes, I expect so. Tell me, have you encountered Suvaris at all, since you've been in the forest?"

"No. Not since Fredas morning. When we left Fort Ash."

Rena interjected. "Have you actually found any goblins? Live ones, I mean?"

Elynwen shrugged and wrinkled her nose. "Just two yesterday. They were no trouble."

Rena returned a shrug of her own. "We came across three just near the Hackdirt Road, just before we made it to Odiil Farms. Since putting them down, we hadn't seen any until we found that one just near here."

Elynwen released a small sigh. "I'm sure that we'll come across more of them. If not sooner, then I expect that there will be more than enough to go around, once we reach that larger tribe at the old ruins."

Rena's expression indicated that she agreed.

After glancing upward through the canopy overhead, Forester spoke up again. "Since it looks to be about midday, or thereabouts, I'd suggest that it might be a good time to take a short break before returning to task."

That recommendation provoked a fairly enthusiastic response from both Temel-Za and Artellian. Elynwen agreed that it sounded like a good idea.

After Ras'Dar took another moment to again confirm that nothing of concern seemed to be nearby, the seven Skingrad Guild Fighters settled in for a short rest and to take something to eat and drink from their packs.

Sipping from his flask, Forester remained somewhat incredulous over the matter of a Land Dreugh straying so far north from the waters of the south. Ras'Dar was the only one to hold no opinion, since he'd never even seen one before.

Of course, Elynwen accepted that it was notably unusual. However, she seemed rather more matter-of-fact over the encounter, accepting it for what it was. She still intended to keep a sharp eye out for that creature when they headed off again.

Responding to the ongoing mention of Land Dreugh, Temel-Za had a brief story to share that he'd heard from his father. Apparently, his grandfather had been a sailor on the vessels that sailed the southern coasts from the east of Argonia to the lower peninsular of Elsweyr.

As Temel-Za understood it, Land Dreugh were not all that uncommon in the eastern wetlands, at certain times of the year, not that he'd ever been there himself. However from what he'd heard, the matured water-dwelling Dreugh were not seen nearly as often.

According to what he'd been told, Temel-Za's grandfather had been on a vessel that once came across a horde of more than twenty Dreugh feasting upon the carcass of a huge Sea-Drake in the shallows off the coast from Lilmoth. They hadn't thought that the Dreugh had actually killed the sea-beast, but they had certainly made the most of the find.

Jaras Artellian saw fit to challenge the likelihood of the truth of such a story. Before it actually became an argument, Ras'Dar's questions served to head that off, if somewhat inadvertently. They needed to explain to the land-bound Khajiit exactly what the water-dwelling Dreugh were like and what a Sea-Drake was. It didn't seem that Ras'Dar fully grasped what they were explaining to him, but he seemed fascinated nonetheless.

After some further idle talk, brief farewells were exchanged and the two teams broke off to go their separate ways. Elynwen's team moved off back toward the south and Forester's team headed back toward the north.

~O~


	13. Chapter 13

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 13

Loredas the 2nd of Frostfall 4E49 Afternoon

Monika Northwind's team of Guild Fighters had been on the move since leaving behind that campsite just after the dawn. The first half of the day had proved frustratingly quiet in that part of The Great Forest. It actually seemed that the greatest enemy that they'd faced all morning had proved to be boredom.

Just like the day before, each and every little thing that promised some sort of reason to prepare for danger had turned out to be just another false alarm. That just added to the general level of tension, as well as breeding some measure of laxity among some of those on the team.

Of course, Monika had made the effort to regularly remind the others to remain properly alert. Alex didn't need so much reminding. It was more about those other two. It seemed that Loran had been proving a disruptive influence upon young Vinnus Odiil. It was a fair call that the former Legionnaire was embracing the more relaxed atmosphere of the Fighters Guild just a little too much. At least, that was how it looked to Monika.

Nonetheless, Monika's sharp glare tended to pull him back into line fairly quickly. Still, she was annoyed that she needed to do that. By her reckoning, Loran should have known much better. She shouldn't have needed to exhaust any effort keeping him on task.

Even so, that effort toward maintaining proper vigilance almost seemed to be somewhat redundant, since nothing of any consequence had yet presented itself.

As they made their way through the thicker woodlands, they had spotted old animal droppings and the like, here and there. Several signs of noise or movement regularly proved to be nothing of special consequence. They'd found some old bones from long dead animals. They'd even found a spot that looked like it had been used as a nest for forest trolls at some time in the past, though not recently.

The greatest excitement of that morning came from an inconsequential distraction involving some birds. A large crow had swooped down through the trees with a big stick in its beak. It was doggedly pursued by a noisy pair of smaller birds. It looked like the crow had apparently stolen the stick from the nest of the other birds. Aside from the unexpected ruckus, the only really unusual thing about it was that birds might be building nests at the beginning of Frostfall. It seemed like just another reminder that the autumn was much warmer than usual.

Though they'd been on the lookout for any sign that indicated the presence of goblin activity in the area, they'd yet to actually find anything. Since that was the whole reason that they were out there, it was all quite annoying.

Around midday, Monika had decided to take a break from crisscrossing the forest to permit everybody the chance to rest and have something to eat. Of course, no one argued with that suggestion.

As they all sat down along a convenient fallen log, Loran had again grumbled about not seeing any goblins. With an annoyed expression, he took a swig from his water and started rummaging through his pack to look to his rations.

Young Vinnus had earnestly suggested that maybe they'd stray into the area that Montrose had already cleared out or something like that.

Alex disagreed mildly, pointing out that they probably would have come across some dead goblins if that had been the case. Added to that, he did not think that they had actually gone that far north, though he conceded that Montrose might still have strayed that far south.

Monika didn't feed that aspect of the conversation at all. Instead, she made the point that the longer that they went without coming across any goblins, the greater the likelihood that they'd be somewhere ahead. She again urged everyone to keep their eyes and ears alert and reminded them to stay on task.

That part of the forest where they'd stop for a break had been in a lower part of the woodland. It seemed to have been in a slight hollow of sorts. From the feel of the ground, that area most likely became fairly soggy when there was any significant rainfall.

They didn't stay there for long. Monika was anxious over allowing the group to become too settled. Heading off northward from that location, that path took them uphill for a short way, then the ground levelled out again for a bit. There was another bit of a hollow up there before the land rose again to the north and the east.

Just to the west of that location, the ground fell away into a ravine of sorts, before rising to the higher ground on the other side. It looked like the kind of thing that might easily become a cascading waterway during heavy rains with run-off coming down the slopes above.

Alex had quietly pointed with his bow in the direction of that ravine, making a silent suggestion. Monika just shook her head mildly and indicated that higher ground just up ahead, along the eastern side of the ravine. Though she didn't actually say, Alex just assumed that she meant to scout that higher ground first, then come back down through the ravine, making a rough loop of it.

It was still relatively early in the afternoon as Monika silently signalled for the others to hold position. They'd just passed by a sizeable rocky outcrop where the trees parted just enough for an increased amount of sunlight to shine down through the canopy overhead. Just a few wispy clouds could be seen in the sky above. Of course, she'd ignored that distraction.

Just ahead and up the gently sloping ground, the underbrush and trees were much thicker. It was difficult to see very far in that direction. A large fallen tree trunk also blocked the way just fifteen paces or so ahead.

Perhaps just over an hour or so had passed by since they'd stopped for that midday break. It was the first time since then that there'd been any reason for possible concern. It could well have been yet another false alarm.

Alex moved up closer, trying to see what had drawn her attention. The other two just held back and remained quiet. Everyone was holding weapons more or less at the ready. It wasn't yet evident that there would be any reason to actually use them.

After a lengthy pause, Alex had decided that he could not see or hear anything. He whispered very quietly. "What is it?"

Casting only a brief sideways glance in his direction, Monika raised her free hand indicating that he should remain silent. She tilted her head, obviously straining to hear.

A small bird took flight. It flew directly toward them, then disappeared up into the canopy of leaves above.

"Just another bird." Loran passed the comment.

Monika again held up her free hand, signalling for silence.

Alex turned to cast a dark glare in Loran's direction. The former Legionnaire complied with the call for silence. Young Vinnus looked forward with a guilty expression, even though he hadn't actually done anything.

After another short moment, Monika again signalled with her hand, waving them back toward where they'd just come from. She just briefly shifted position to shoulder herself against the trunk of a solid oak, still trying to see up ahead through the trees.

She glanced backward to see where the other three were, then waved them back a bit further. After another glance uphill past that fallen tree trunk, she cautiously moved down toward the others.

Reaching Alex's side, she urged them back just a bit further, to where the trees were slightly more spaced, not far from that rocky outcrop.

Alex's expression indicated a question, but he remained silent.

Monika spoke in a whisper. "I spotted a goblin. Not sure, but I think it's not alone."

Loran looked like he wanted to say something, but held his tongue.

Monika resumed. "The trees are too thick up there. Could be awkward."

Alex was also thinking that the goblins held the high-ground advantage. He gestured with his hand, suggesting that they might go around to get on the other side of them.

Monika seemed to understand what he was suggesting. She shook her head. "No, I want to lure them down here. We know it's clear behind us." She nodded toward the rocky outcrop. "With those rocks at our back, this looks like a better place for it. More room to work with between these trees."

Loran spoke, keeping his voice low. "What do you want?"

Monika looked to Vinnus instead. "You have the youngest voice. When I give you the word, I want you to start calling out for help, like you're injured or something."

Vinnus raised his eyebrows, then nodded his understanding.

Monika raised her bow. "We'll do this with arrows first. I want everybody ready, but wait until I give the signal."

Each of the others indicated their understanding.

Monika looked back in the direction of where she expected the goblins to come from, then signalled Vinnus.

The younger lad looked uncomfortable, but he nocked an arrow to his bow, then started wailing and calling for help in a forlorn fashion.

Loran suppressed a mild smirk, but readied himself with his bow.

They didn't need to wait long. One goblin soon poked its misshapen head over the top of that fallen tree trunk. Then two more appeared at its side. Making those grating chattering noises that they generally made, all three goblins started clambering over the big log.

Just as Monika had hoped, the noise of a seemingly helpless human crying out was enough to draw their attention. They were probably figuring on facing a fairly easy victim.

So far, it looked like just the three of them. They seemed like those lesser-sized goblins. One was just slightly larger than the other two. They weren't wearing anything more than basic leather loincloths, except the slightly larger one had some animal furs strapped to its arms. At a guess, they looked more like a scouting group than a war party. That larger one carried an old blade. The other two wielded crude clubs. With any luck, they wouldn't even have the opportunity to use those weapons.

Once they'd made it over the fallen tree trunk, Monika gave the signal. A hail of arrows was unleashed upon the unsuspecting goblins. As reasonably expected, Monika was firing them off more quickly than the others. Though to be fair, Alex was only slightly slower than she was and the other two were just a bit slower than that.

A few arrows missed, but more than enough seemed strike the intended targets. The goblins had been screeching and waving their weapons. They'd been caught unable to easily retreat with that tree trunk immediately behind them. At the same time, they'd been taken so completely by surprise that they didn't seem able to decide to advance forward in attack.

Though Monika had anticipated the possibility that they might need to switch to fighting with hand weapons among the trees, it never even came to that. The three goblins soon fell down dead from the archery assault.

The four Guild Fighters held back a little longer, waiting to see if any other goblins were on the way from anywhere nearby. Only once Monika was perfectly satisfied that it seemed like no more were coming, she cleared the others to stand down from alert.

The four of them cautiously approached the goblins to verify that they were actually as dead as they appeared. Monika kept a sharp eye out as the others worked to retrieve their spent arrows.

Neither Monika nor Alex held any interest in checking the goblins for what they might have on them. Of course, their weapons were completely useless and of no value at all.

After finding a pouch under a goblin's loincloth, Loran grumbled over what he'd found inside. It was nothing of any consequence. "What do goblins need with lock-picks anyway?"

Young Vinnus Odiil chuckled mildly. "Look at those teeth."

"Oh, yeah. Makes sense, I s'pose." With a grim smile, Loran was looking down at the sharp fang-like array of teeth in the mouth of a smelly dead goblin.

Of course, they just left those dead goblins where they'd fallen. There was no need to do otherwise. The four Chorrol Guild Fighters were soon on their way again. Just as Monika had originally intended, they planned to go up that wooded hillside just a little further and then make their way back down through that ravine. After that, they'd continued making their way a little further eastward throughout the afternoon, crisscrossing the woodlands in a manner that covered as much ground as was reasonably possible.

A general sense of optimism came over the group in the wake of that successful encounter. After that, it seemed that fewer reminders were needed to keep everyone sharp and attentive. With any luck, there was some reasonable expectation that they might even find more goblins that day.

With their good fortune holding, Monika was quietly hoping that any subsequent encounters might even go just as favourably. At least until they managed to make it to those old ruins at Lindai.

* * *

><p>Throughout the afternoon, Forester's team had continued moving through the woodlands of The Great Forest in a staggered fashion. By the latter part of that day, they'd travelled much further north than where they'd met with Elynwen's group around noon, and probably just a bit further eastward as well.<p>

Despite their reasonable expectations, they had yet to encounter any more goblins since that one that they'd dealt with much earlier. There'd been just a few moments of alarm from time to time. Birds taking flight from the trees and the like. At one point, a fox had dashed out from cover and then ran right past them, leading them to think that it might have been startled by something else, but nothing of a sort actually presented itself.

Late in the afternoon, they came upon an area with some features that broke up that part of the forest. Most of the ground was relatively level among the trees of that area. However, they found a spot where the land jutted upward with a small outcrop of rocks. The trees parted a little on either side of it, providing for a limited view of the sky above. The sun was already falling low in the sky behind them. A few spotty remnants of broken cloud hung high in the sky toward the north, making a pattern like what might be seen on a sandy beach after the tide went out.

Forester signalled for caution as they approached the exposed rock face on the north-eastern side of that outcrop. Each of them understood that those kinds of overhangs were just the type of thing that might attract some sort of creature that favoured the shelter of that kind of location.

As it passed, there was nothing of concern to be found there. Forester mentioned that it might make quite a good spot to camp for the evening, but remained slightly astounded that no other creature seemed to have made use of it.

As Forester and Maplewood briefly examined that site, Ras'Dar became alerted to something just beyond that small clearing in the woodland. All three made suitable preparations in response to the Khajiit's state of alert.

It again turned out to be something of a false alarm. A half-grown wild boar poked its head out from behind a bush just at the eastern edge of the clearing. It sniffed the air briefly, then turned tail and totted off back into the forest.

The trio relaxed their state of readiness.

Forester passed a comment. "That seems like an indication that there might be no goblins in the immediate area. I should think that young boars like that would be lucky to remain clear of goblin hunting parties."

Rena affected a mild smirk. "Maybe, they just prefer gnawing on rat-meat."

Forester returned a vaguely nonplussed expression. "I can't imagine that even the goblins would actually prefer rat-meat to roasted pig. Even the wild ones."

Just then, Ras'Dar tugged silently at Forester's arm, brushing Maplewood at the same time. They both turn to look with surprised expressions.

The diminutive Suthay Khajiit was gazing up toward the sky with an open mouth and wide-eyed expression. "Look… look at that."

Both of the Colovians looked up to follow his direction. There was a long trail of white smoke in the sky, stretching from the vicinity of those spotty clouds and seemingly reaching down toward the forested hillsides above to the north.

Forester cleared his throat. "Well, that looks like another falling star. Rather unusual to see one during the daylight hours."

Rena's voice carried some trepidation. "Looks to me, like it's coming this way."

Forester didn't seem terribly concerned. "Not to worry. I should think that it will fizzle out before it comes anywhere near the ground."

She shot her husband a quick glance before returning her gaze upward. "I'm not so sure. It's getting pretty low in the sky."

Several birds of different kinds took flight from the trees, headed off in a variety of directions. Ras'Dar's ears had flattened back and he appeared discomforted. "The noise."

Before either of the other two had the chance ask what he meant, a high pitched roaring sound became evident. The trail of smoke through the sky was almost upon their location in nearly no time at all. A ball of fire came crashing through the trees just a short distance to the north of their position, immediately followed a loud bang as it struck the ground.

Forester and Maplewood exchanged stunned looks. Ras'Dar had been crouched down with a pained expression on his feline face. He cacophonous noise seemed to have affected him far more than his human compatriots.

Rena bent down to check on the Khajiit. "Are you alright?"

Ras'Dar blinked a few times and swallowed. "This one… this one will be alright. The noise." He tilted his head from side to side, twitching his ears.

Forester cleared his throat. "Well, that was rather unexpected."

Rena looked to him with raised eyebrows. "Yeah, you could say that." She turned to look toward where the object had fallen from the skies. A thin column of smoke seemed to rise up from the cloud of dust floating above the treetops. "That can't be more than five minutes from here. Maybe less than that."

Looking off toward that column, Forester nodded his silent agreement.

Rena nudged her husband with her elbow. "Should we go see?"

Ras'Dar offered a relevant point. "Khajiit might worry if a fire starts in the forest."

Forester nodded grimly. "Yes, that would be something of a problem."

"Well then?" Rena indicated the relevant direction.

Forester nodded. "Yes, of course."

The three Skingrad Guild Fighters quickly started off toward the thin column of pale smoke. Keeping an eye out for unexpected trouble, they moved briskly and purposefully in that direction, as much as the terrain and obstacles would permit.

Rena spoke up along the way. "You think anyone else heard that?"

Forester responded in a changeable tone. "Well, I expect that others might well have heard it, but I should think that they're most likely much further away."

Rena tried to gauge how far north they might be. "Monika's people might be somewhere in this direction."

Forester tilted his head. "Perhaps. Still, I'd imagine that her team would be much further to the north, unless they're currently near the southern extent of the area that they're covering. I'd expect that both Elynwen and Suvaris would be much further off, and those other two groups would be nowhere near here."

"Yeah, I s'pose."

They all fell silent as they drew closer to the location of where the object had made landfall. Ras'Dar had been sniffing the air with a distasteful expression. Though the dust had settled somewhat and there was just a slight burning smell, it didn't seem that any blazing forest fire had started. In fact, that column of smoke seemed to have completely dissipated by the time they'd arrived.

Among the taller trees, they found a big hole in the ground with mounds of fresh dirt piled up about the edges. More or less in the centre in that hole, surrounded by fresh ash, there was a smouldering piece of rock about the size of an apple.

Rena moved close to the edge of the crater. "Is that it? I thought it would be much bigger than that."

Forester stood just to her side. "I expect that it probably started off that way. That's just all that's left of it."

Ras'Dar crouched and leaned forward to take a closer look.

Forester offered a warning. "I wouldn't get too close. I imagine that it's still quite hot."

Rena glanced about at the surrounding trees. "At least, it doesn't look like it's started up any fires."

"Yes, that is fortunate." Forester returned his attention to the sky-stone. "I should think this is a rather rare occurrence. I never actually expected to see something like that. If that Aetherial Fragment were to cool down…"

Ras'Dar seemed to wobble on his legs and then fell back slightly from the pit. Still looking unsteady on his legs, he stood up, shaking his head. "This one does not feel good."

Rena took a step toward the Khajiit to steady him. She glanced back to her husband with a frown. "Y'know, I don't think I'm feeling so good either."

Forester's eyes widened. "Everyone, get back now. Away from this thing." He took hold of Rena's arm, dragging both of them further from the pit.

Though neither of the other two had any idea what it was all about, they complied with the firm direction. Forester didn't stop until they were several paces away from that hole in the ground.

Turning back toward the pit, he closed his eyes and concentrated upon calling up a spell that he'd rarely used during recent times. Wispy trails of light danced down toward his outstretched arms, coalescing into balls in his palms. He released the gathered magicka and it sprayed outward like a misty shower caught in the bright sunlight, casting little rainbows through the trees.

After a lengthy moment, he released a long breath and then paused to consider some unseen result.

Rena spoke. "What's that about?"

"Yes well, ah… a detection spell, of sorts. There's a… there's only a small amount of magicka emanating from that Aetherial Fragment. I'm not certain whether that's typical or not."

Rena frowned. "What do you mean?"

Forester sighed. "I'm not quite sure."

Rena's expression indicated that she didn't like the sound of that at all.

Forester's shoulders slumped a little. He mumbled to himself a moment. "Please, ah… please, just come here a moment." He held out his arms in front.

Rena returned a questioning look as she stood in front of him. Forester called up a more familiar spell and released a wash of magical light over his wife.

Responding to her silent question, he clarified. "It's just a healing spell. Ras'Dar, you too." He waved him over.

The Khajiit appeared apprehensive, but the queasy feeling his belly outweighed any objection that he might have made. Forester cast the same spell over Ras'Dar, then called up a slightly different version of that spell to cast over himself.

"I think that we should all be taking some healing potion as well." Forester pointed back in the direction of where they'd been before that thing had fallen from the heavens. "I do think we should look to making camp first."

"Camp?" Rena echoed.

"Yes, I know it's a little early." He sounded weary.

Rena cast a glance back through the trees toward that pit. "Look, are you going me tell me what this is all about?" There was undertone of restrained anger in her voice.

Ras'Dar remained silent, taking half a step back.

Forester released a heavy sigh. "Well, I'm not exactly certain, but I think that I might have at least some idea." He sighed again. "Back when I was with the Synod, I heard a story from somebody I knew at the Arcane University. She'd actually heard it from someone else." He paused again. "Well, it was about a mage who'd come into the possession of an Aetherial Fragment with unusual properties. Unlike the usual kinds of specimens, that particular one was said to have held very little magicka of the usual kind, but it did seem radiate some other kind of magical effects that were difficult to identify. Apparently, it made people ill and caused blistering after close contact. Some people were made very ill."

Rena frowned in thought. "I was feeling a little light headed, with an upset in my belly, but no blistering or anything like that."

Ras'Dar interjected "This one was feeling hot."

Maintaining a concerned expression, Forester shrugged mildly. "I suspect that it might require much longer contact to cause that kind of adverse effect. Either way, I do think that we should place ourselves much further from it."

Rena shook her head slightly. "You think that thing has poisoned us?"

"In a way, I suppose. Hopefully, it's nothing that some further healing magic, potions and some proper rest won't be enough to surmount."

Rena seemed observably annoyed, but there was nowhere to really direct that. It was even her suggestion to go check on that thing. "I hope no one else comes this way."

Forester pointed back toward that rocky outcrop. "With any luck, nobody else should be coming this way. At least, I do hope that's the case."

They continued onward in silence back toward that proposed campsite.

* * *

><p>Monika's Northwind's team had continued their crisscrossing path through the woodlands throughout the afternoon. Since that earlier encounter with those three goblins that they'd so easily dispatched, they hadn't come across any more of them.<p>

That earlier sense of optimism that came with that encounter had been starting to wear off as the day grew long. It seemed obvious that attention spans were beginning to fray and the others were becoming more easily distracted.

Late in the afternoon, young Vinnus had alerted the others to a strange stream of smoke in the sky that he'd spotted through the trees. A moment later, a loud bang could be heard echoing throughout the woodlands. It sounded like it came from somewhere off to the south. It was hard to tell, but it seemed like it was a fair way off.

With some concern in his voice, Alex had speculated that it might have been somewhere in the area that Forester's team could be covering.

Monika conceded that it might have been, but suggested that it could easily have been much further off. Perhaps even as far off as the part of the forest that Suvaris' team was scouting.

Loran gave voice to the logical conclusion. He offered that it looked it might have been another one of those falling stars that were in the sky the previous evening. He even figured that it might have actually hit the ground. That would've explained the load noise.

Monika agreed with that assessment. It made reasonable sense to her. Either way, she suggested that it was too far off to be of any concern and talking about it wasn't going to find any goblins. Accordingly, she urged them onward through the rough terrain of the woodland ahead.

By the time that it was just getting close to the end of the daylight hours, Monika had been keeping out an eye for a suitable place to make camp for the evening. That area of the forest that they'd been passing through had been fairly rugged and not so well suited to that purpose.

Looking for somewhere that might prove more suitable, Monika led the group up the sloping ground toward the north. She expected to find some place where the ground levelled out a bit. Even better if there was somewhere that looked slightly sheltered or at least somewhat defensible.

Just as it was starting to get a bit dark in the forest, Monika spotted some movement up ahead through the trees. She paused and took cover behind a broad tree trunk, alerting the others to possible trouble. The other three held position and remained quiet for a lengthy moment. Each of them held their weapons at the ready.

It soon became evident that it wasn't goblins. Three human figures had paused in place and then shifted to take cover in the same fashion that Monika had. Though they were in shadow, she could tell that one stood just a little taller than the other two.

Just as Monika was again peering out from behind the tree with her bow still at the ready, that taller figure was doing the same sort of thing.

The taller figure in shadow waved his arm and called out. "Northwind?" It was Henrik.

Shaking her head, Monika returned the wave. Neither holding cover nor following instructions were either of Henrik's strongest skills.

Francois Montrose stepped out from behind his cover. Catius did the same, taking a moment to smack Henrik firmly on the shoulder. He was too far off to hear exactly what he said to the Nord, but it was probably something unkind.

Monika waved her own people forward and they proceeded up the slope to meet with their other comrades.

Northwind approached Montrose with a crooked grin. "Looks like we were a bit further north than we thought."

With a shrug, the Breton returned a similar expression. "We might be a little further south than we thought.

Monika led with an obvious query. "Any goblins in the area?"

Montrose shook his head. "Not that we've seen lately. We took down a pair of goblins yesterday, back to the west. Got another pair this morning, back up that way." He pointed in a generally northerly direction.

Monika looked to her left. "We found three earlier this afternoon. Bit west of here. Just scouts, by the look of them. They were no trouble at all. Haven't seen any since."

Montrose shrugged again. "I thought that we might see a lot more of them out in the forest, but I suppose that the greater number might be closer to the ruins." He glanced toward the east.

"S'pose so." Monika had already been assuming the same.

Since it was nearly dark and they were all in the same place at the same time, Monika and Montrose agreed that they might as well make camp as a single group. Montrose already knew of a suitable location nearby, just up the slope toward the west a short way. That's where they were just headed before they encountered one another. With all seven of Chorrol's Guild Fighters present, that would make keeping watch through the hours of darkness a less arduous task. With the daylight fading fast, they headed off for that location.

~O~


	14. Chapter 14

Under Autumn Skies: An Elder Scrolls Novel

Greg J Miller

~O~

Chapter 14

Sundas the 3rd of Frostfall 4E49

Monika stirred as Alex got up from the bedroll. She cracked open her eyes to learn that it was light enough to see. The sky wasn't clearly visible through the foliage overhead, but the muted colouring of the woodlands gave her some idea of what time it might be. It didn't seem that the sun had actually risen in the east just yet, but it couldn't have been too long before the dawn. The calls of some of the birds ringing throughout the forest backed up that supposition just as well.

Since she was already awake, she decided that she should also be getting up to make a start on that third day in The Great Forest. Still sitting upon the bedroll, she reached for her water flask. After taking a sip, she stifled a yawn and cast an eye about the campsite.

Montrose and Catius hadn't woken yet. Nor had Loran or Odiil. Alex had gone off behind the bushes on the western side of the camp to attend to pressing matters. Henrik casually leaned against a tree on the far side of the remains of the smouldering campfire. The only reason that he was already up was because he'd been on the last watch of the evening.

They'd been at that campsite since just after the sun had set in the west. After meeting up with Montrose and his team late in the afternoon, all seven Guild Fighters had made their way directly to that location that the Breton had already been heading for before the two teams encountered one another. After another quick once over of the area, they'd set camp under dim moonlight.

Even though Masser was nearly full that night, it wasn't yet that high in the sky and the overhead foliage obscured much of the light that it provided. The thin crescent of Secunda did very little to add to that at all.

The site of the camp was a relatively level area in the rolling foothills somewhere below The Orange Road. In all likelihood, with the way that road meandered in a generally northerly direction, the section of that road to the north was probably far more distant than it was back to the west.

The location of the campsite wasn't exactly a clearing, but the tall trees were spread just sparsely enough to serve the purpose. The terrain rose steeply just behind to the north and dropped off almost as sharply to the south. The land gently sloped away on either side in a more moderate fashion. Though that location was not perfect, it did seem reasonably defensible. Added to that, they'd already scouted the immediate areas in each direction during those hours beforehand, so it did seem fairly safe.

That previous evening had proved relatively uneventful. There'd been the usual noises of some of the night birds and an incident involving the yowling call of a nearby fox taking flight through the woodlands.

Other than that, only the sounds of Henrik's sporadic snoring disturbed the hours of darkness. Evidently, those particular sounds were only absent during those final hours before the dawn. Some of the others made some noises in their sleep, but not quite like Henrik.

The low campfire provided some warmth during the hours of darkness, though it still seemed somewhat unnecessary for that purpose. The evening hadn't been all that cool. Even by the dawn, it still felt as though it was not yet the month of Frostfall.

Once Alex had returned, Monika stood up and stretched, stifling another yawn. He volunteered to go wake Janus Loran and young Vinnus Odiil as she looked to heading off behind the bushes over the eastern side of the camp.

Alex's efforts to rouse Loran and Odiil had actually served to stir Montrose and Catius as well. None objected too much, since everybody knew that they needed to rise early.

Though none of them had noticed at the time, the morning birds had just gone quiet in the immediate area. From the eastern edge of the camp, a noise that sounded something like a drunken woman's giggling came from the behind the bushes.

Alex had turned in that direction with an expression of curiosity. He heard Monika call out as she suddenly jumped up from behind the bushes, still hitching up her leathers. She lunged purposefully at a tree with her dagger in hand.

It became immediately obvious that it wasn't a tree that she attacked. A wash of glittering green coloured sparkles drew attention toward the problem. A figure came into view that vaguely resembled the form of a woman. Only it appeared as though it had been carved from wood, with moss and leaves sprouting from it in places.

"I could… I could use… some help." Monika was forced to leap clear of the spriggan as she left her dagger embedded in its chest.

Caught completely off guard, Alex had been trying to collect his bow and rummaging to pull an arrow from the quiver leaning against his pack on the ground.

"Any time, now… would be good." Monika took another step back and dove behind the bushes to leave some clear space between herself and the highly agitated tree spirit.

As Alex was still fumbling with his bow, Henrik came barrelling through, before any of the others could take action. The stocky Nord bellowed loudly as he rapidly closed upon the spriggan. Wielding his hammer, he managed to take the head clean off it with a single blow, quite possibly surprising even himself.

Just behind the fallen tree spirit, the spectral form of a black bear faded from existence. If Henrik had been any later, that conjured creature would have doubled the threat.

"Watch it." Monika issued the warning as she got up from the ground.

"I am watching it." Henrik took another swipe at the fallen spriggan, waiting to see whether it was about to reconstitute itself and rise again. It was not unusual for those things to get back up two or three times after they appeared defeated. At least, that was the case with the more powerful spriggans.

Alex had just arrived behind Henrik with his bow in hand. Each of the others had risen in response to the frantic commotion, but held well back.

As Henrik was still keeping a wary eye upon the unmoving spriggan, a hissing mottled brown ground pheasant emerged from behind a tree and started attacking his leg. It was obviously a result of the inherent magical effects unleashed by the nature spirit. It was probably a good thing that nothing more dangerous had been near enough to respond to the spriggan's call.

Responding to the annoyance, Henrik shook the bird loose, then swatted the hapless pheasant with his hammer, sending it sailing off through the trees.

Henrik returned his attention to the spriggan once again. "Don't reckon it's getting' up again." He looked to Monika.

Still holding up her leathers with one hand, she returned an indignant glare. "Yeah, good job. Now, if you don't mind?"

Henrik looked back again, before finally taking her meaning.

Alex patted the larger Nord upon the shoulder. "Yes, good work."

Henrik turned about to follow Alex back to the centre of camp.

The next few Guild Fighters to head off behind the bushes, over on the other side of the camp, did so with some healthy measure of caution in place. Even so, there didn't seem to be any other unexpected concerns lurking just out of view.

Monika seemed to have taken a bit longer than expected to return. Alex looked to her with some concern as she finally emerged from behind the bushes. She still had her retrieved dagger out in her right hand and a twisted knot of wooden root in her left.

Alex idly rubbed the light stubble on his chin, wondering exactly what she was holding. "What is that?"

Monika shrugged. "Spriggan taproot. Wouldn't have gone after it on purpose, but since it was already down, I figured that I might as well dig it out. Florence might want it."

Alex returned a silent nod of understanding, though he was still slightly disturbed by the whole incident. He always felt uncomfortable whenever they encountered creatures that were not exactly alive in a normal way. Of course, he was relieved that Monika emerged unscathed. Still, it served as another reminder of the need for vigilance in the forest.

Noticing that Monika had retrieved the wooden 'heart' of the spriggan, Henrik had opened his mouth to say something, then decided to close it again. He was probably going to object that he was the one to actually take down the creature, but decided that he didn't really care who took the taproot. After all, it wasn't like he knew what to do with it and he doubted that it was even worth that much.

By the time that everyone had taken something to eat and gathered up all their possessions in preparation to break camp, the birds of the forest had resumed their regular chirping with the breaking dawn.

Preparing to move out, Montrose cast a glance toward those other two on his team, then turned about to look to Monika. "I expect that we'll be at the meeting point either by tonight or the next morning."

Monika nodded her agreement. "Yeah, reckon so." She casually checked to see that Alex and the other two were ready to go.

Montrose added a further comment. "I'd also expect that we might be seeing more goblins between here and there."

Monika shrugged slightly. "Yeah, maybe. We oughta be careful not to stir them up too much before we're all in place to take on the larger group."

Montrose nodded. "Of course. Just north of Lindai, then?"

"Yeah." Monika left it at that.

Chorrol's Guild Fighters again split into off two groups. Montrose and his team moved off toward the north-east and Monika led her team back down the slopes toward the south.

* * *

><p>Ras'Dar had been keeping watch since well before the dawn. The evening had passed without incident of any note. With some nervous expectation, the Khajiit had been frequently watching the night skies during the earlier part of the evening. Once he'd been woken to take over the final watch, he returned to watching the skies, almost to the extent that he might have missed some other more nearby danger in the forest. As it passed, the skies remained just as peaceful as the surrounding woodlands.<p>

Once he was up that morning, Malcolm Forester had again expressed his concerns with regard to those unexpected ill effects from their encounter with that atypical sky-stone. He made a point of checking upon everyone's health again.

Forester would hardly claim to be any sort of expert in the healing arts, beyond what he knew of the most general kind of restoration magic. Still, as near as he could reasonably tell, he believed that they were all okay.

After making camp by that rocky outcrop the previous afternoon, to the extent that his available magicka would allow, Forester had administered repeat healing spells and another spell to alleviate the effects of poisons. He'd also insisted that all three of them take healing potions from their supplies. Even though he'd not experienced those ill effects quite as badly as either Rena or Ras'Dar, he was still motivated to err on the side of prudence and caution.

Of course, any notions that he might have otherwise held with regard to the value of examining such an unusual Aetherial fragment had evaporated completely in the face of the danger that it represented. He did try to make some marks on his map of his best estimates of the location of both the rocky outcrop where they'd camped and where that sky-stone had fallen. If nothing else, he could pass on that information later. Firstly as a warning of the danger and secondly, so that better prepared parties could investigate further.

By Forester's reckoning, the Synod might well be better suited than the College of Whispers to conduct any further examinations. On some level, he wondered whether it might well be better if that object remained left alone where it was, just as he intended to do.

Not too long after the dawn, that trio of Skingrad Guild Fighters had broken camp and were on their way again into the woods of The Great Forest.

As far as they could tell, there was no obvious indication that anyone else had come into that area where the sky-stone had fallen. Forester made an effort to remain well clear of that pit as he led his team deeper into the woodlands.

Like the past few days, it seemed that the weather would be remaining mild and pleasant. There'd been just a slight chill to the air around dawn, but it quickly warmed up with the rising sun. On those occasions that the sky could be seen through foliage overhead, it remained dominated by blue, with just a few wispy clouds drifting high above.

Just as they'd almost grown accustomed to by then, the morning had brought only the usual false alerts in response to the movement and noises of the more harmless creatures of the forest. Each of them had been expecting an increased likelihood of encountering some goblins as they drew nearer to the location of those old Ayleid ruins. However, that particular expectation had yet to be met.

It was very near to midday by the time that circumstance eventually changed. As was often the case, Ras'Dar had been the one to silently raise the alarm. Though neither Forester nor Rena could detect anything, the diminutive Khajiit had been certain that something was just ahead, beyond the clear line of sight.

A little further ahead, they came upon a relatively small clearing, where only smaller trees and bushes grew between the fallen logs. The fall of a much larger and older pine had evidently created that small space among those much taller trees about the clearing.

It wasn't until they'd edged around the far side of that large fallen trunk that they found what had drawn Ras'Dar's attention. A rather smaller sized goblin was kneeling down among the bushes. It continued making its chattering noises, seemingly unaware of the stealthy approach of the three Guild Fighters.

Maplewood already had her sword and shield at the ready. Forester had his long blade of fine Colovian steel in hand. More sensibly than previous choices, he held a prepared spell that launched a spray of ice shards. Of course, Ras'Dar had his bow in hand and stood alert with arrow nocked and ready to draw.

Forester and Maplewood glanced around, expecting to see other goblins about, but it appeared to be alone. A subtle movement of Ras'Dar's head seemed to indicate that he wasn't aware of any others nearby.

The Khajiit had only been cautiously holding off in deference to Forester. A curt nod from the Colovian was all he was waiting for. Ras'Dar launched an arrow that struck home decisively, burying firmly into the back of the goblin's neck. A second strike followed quickly, finding its home just below the first one.

At such close range and with that measure of accuracy, Ras'Dar's efforts could hardly have been more effective. There was no need for either of the other two to do anything more than keep an eye out as the goblin collapsed with a pitiful gurgling noise.

The three Guild Fighters held position for a moment longer, listening and watching for signs of any trouble. It soon became obvious that nothing else was on the way.

Rena relaxed her stance, affecting a grim smile. "That wasn't any sort of challenge."

Forester cleared his throat. "Well, no. It wasn't." He glanced about again as Ras'Dar went over to check the corpse. "I do wonder what it was doing out here on its own."

Maplewood followed the Khajiit over toward the fallen goblin. Forester remembered to set aside the magicka that he'd been holding at the ready, then joined the other two.

Rena's voice carried a tone of mild surprise. "Hmph, that's gotta be the smallest goblin I've ever seen. Not that I've seen a lot." It probably stood shorter than Ras'Dar, no more than about two thirds of Rena's height, if that.

Ras'Dar rolled it over to examine it more closely. Aside from being much smaller than the average goblin, it looked just like any other they'd recently encountered. Even though it wasn't very tall, its head was just as large and hideous as any other goblin. Perhaps the only notable difference was that its pointed ears seemed a bit shorter.

The goblin wasn't armoured at all. It wore nothing but a typical animal-skin loincloth. The only weapon that it had on it was a small rusted dagger.

Ras'Dar cautiously rummaged through the small bag the goblin had dropped. "Khajiit sees what small goblin was doing." He held the bag up with an earnest expression.

Rena took it from him and looked inside. "Looks like it was out here picking flowers and herbs… and some fungus." She looked to her husband.

Forester took a quick look inside the bag, then nodded. "Yes, so it seems." Once again, he looked over his shoulder to check that they were still alone.

Reflexively, Rena followed his glance. There was nothing to see. "You think it has something to do with one of those goblin shamans?"

Forester tilted his head. "I suppose that's possible. I suspect that the goblins must have grown rather confident, if they're wandering out on their own like this."

Ras'Dar had found a pouch beneath the goblin's loincloth and emptied the content out onto the ground. There were a few small bones carved into something that reflected tools or utensils of a kind. Pushing aside two rounded stones of no obvious value and a bent lock-pick, a shiny blue gemstone caught his eye. He held it up to the light.

"I'd say that looks like a sapphire." Forester made the suggestion.

Ras'Dar's eyes lit up. "Sapphire is valuable, yes?"

"Yes, somewhat. You should keep it."

The Khajiit seemed somewhat pleased with himself as he pocketed the find.

Looking down at the dead goblin again, Rena cocked her head slightly. "Y'know, most of the goblins we've been seeing really have been bigger than this one. I was just thinking, I don't think I've ever seen any goblin children."

Ras'Dar took a small step backward from the body. He looked up with an expression of alarm. "Goblin… children?"

Rena shrugged. "I'm not saying that I think that's…" She shrugged again.

Forester cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly. "Well, I should think that one's a little too large for a goblin child. At least, as far as I might imagine."

Ras'Dar's expression appeared to convey some hesitant sense of relief.

Forester continued. "Still, I do admit that I've never actually seen any smaller than about that size. Come to think of it, I don't think that I've ever seen any infants. Not even at tribal camps. So, I suppose that I don't rightly know what a goblin child might look like." He paused with a somewhat pensive expression.

Rena interjected. "Yeah well, I sure don't remember see anything like that at those places near Skingrad."

Forester wasn't quite finished. "In actual fact, I don't recall ever reading anything that detailed the physiology of goblins, or even hearing about anything like that. I imagine that it's not been much of a topic of interest for scholars." He paused to rub his goatee beard. "I suspect that they must grow very quickly. Otherwise, we'd see smaller ones. Well, smaller than this. I wonder… perhaps the younger ones are birthed and raised in seclusion."

Rena returned a perplexed expression. "I wouldn't know. Never had much to do with goblins until just recently. Like I said, we didn't really see them around Kvatch." She paused with a frown and her mouth half-open. "Ah, actually… I don't think I've ever seen a female goblin, or have I?" She stared down at the dead goblin. Without checking beneath the loincloth, it certainly looked like it was male.

"Yes well, I've not seen any lately. Even then, not many." Forester rubbed at his beard again. "I understand that some of the shaman types are female. It does seem rather odd that most of the goblins we've encountered are male. Perhaps, we'll find some of the females at the main tribal camp."

Rena returned a crooked smirk. "Yeah well, I dunno how they got to such big numbers without more females."

Forester shrugged uncomfortably. "I couldn't say."

Ras'Dar had remained quiet throughout the exchange. He had no knowledge of such things. He was still feeling somewhat uncomfortable that the goblin that he'd just dispatched might have been a youngling or something like that.

Glancing up to the sky, Forester noted that it looked to be about midday. He indicated a spot away from the dead goblin, over the other side of that large fallen tree trunk, suggesting that they might stop for a short break before continuing onward.

Though the notion of goblin young and that specific goblin that they'd just found had fallen away to one side, the sporadic conversation didn't drift too far from the topic of goblins in general. Judging from what he could make out from his map, Forester suggested that they couldn't be all that far from the Lindai ruins. They couldn't see those ruins through all the trees, but it had to be somewhere north of their current location.

In passing, Rena speculated that even with cutting an irregular path through the woodlands, they might well end up fairly close to those ruins by nightfall. Forester agreed with that assessment quite readily. Ras'Dar remained quiet, offering no differing opinion.

As Forester suggested, there was a more than reasonable likelihood that they could be encountering several more goblins as they drew near to that location. They needed to remain on guard and take care not to prematurely alert any larger tribal group to their presence.

Once they'd rested and dealt with any immediate concerns, Forester's team resumed their progress through The Great Forest.

~O~


End file.
